Young People as Active EU Citizens?
Challenges and Visions on a Renewed Project for Europe
First CATCH-EyoU Conference
2-4 March 2017 | Athens, Greece
www.catcheyou.eu/conference2017
PROGRAMME | ABSTRACTS
Funded by the EU's Horizon
2020 Research and innovation
programme (G.A. No 649538)
Under the patronage of
the European Parliament
A major challenge for the EU is currently “bridging the gap” between young Europeans and EU
Institutions, by improving dialogue in order to enhance young people’s voice in EU Institutions and
their active engagement in EU issues. CATCH-EyoU is a research and innovation action funded by the
European Union under the Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (G.A. No 649538).
Through the joint contribution of different disciplines (e.g., psychology, education, political science,
sociology, media and communications) the first open conference of CATCH-EyoU aims both to
present the first findings of the project as well as to attract other contributions addressing the
multifaceted factors that influence the different forms of youth active engagement in European
politics at various governance levels, thus offering policy makers, professionals and young people in
various organizations new instruments and “conceptual lenses” to better understand the factors
that decide whether, how and by whom EU can be brought closer to its citizens.
Organizing Committee
Frosso Motti-Stefanidi (Chair)
Vassilis Pavlopoulos
Nancy Papathanasiou
Georgia Tzima
Dimitra Kostoglou
Athanasios Kyritsis
Scientific Committee
Frosso Motti-Stefanidi, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece
Elvira Cicognani, Alma Mater Studiorum University of Bologna, Italy
Cinzia Albanesi, Alma Mater Studiorum University of Bologna, Italy
Erik Amnå, Örebro University, Sweden
Shakuntala Banaji, London School of Economics, UK
Xenia Chryssochoou, Panteion University, Greece
Lorenzo Floresta, FNG Forum Nazionale Giovani, Italy
Dora Giannaki, Panteion University, Greece
Philipp Jugert, University of Leipzig, Germany
Veronika Kalmus, University of Tartu, Estonia
Pina Lalli, Alma Mater Studiorum University of Bologna, Italy
Jakub Macek, Masaryk University, Czech Republic
Petr Macek, Masaryk University, Czech Republic
Isabel Menezes, University of Porto, Portugal
Peter Noack, Friedrich-Schiller University, Germany
Nancy Papathanasiou, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece
Vassilis Pavlopoulos, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece
Jan Šerek, Masaryk University, Czech Republic
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Registration
Registration is required in order to grant access to the conference venue. Participants may register
online or on site. There are no registration fees. Registration includes full access to all conference
scientific sessions and interactive events, printed conference programme, badge, certificate of
attendance, Wi-Fi Internet connection, coffee breaks, and the welcome reception. Registration does
not include accommodation and lunches.
Venue
Amalia Hotel Athens, 10 Amalias ave., Syntagma Square, Athens 105 57, Greece
http://www.amaliahotelathens.gr/
Language
The official language of the conference is English.
Contact
Frosso Motti-Stefanidi (Chair)
Address: Department of Psychology
School of Philosophy (office 505)
National and Kapodistrian University of Athens
Panepistimiopoli, Zografos 157 84
Greece
E-mail:
[email protected]; [email protected]
URL:
www.catcheyou.eu/conference2017
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Programme Overview
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Thursday, March 2
12:30 – 14:30
Registration
14:30 – 15:00
Welcome
15:00 – 15:30
Overview of CATCH-EyoU project
15:30 – 16:30
KEYNOTE LECTURE Imagining political futures: Young people’s new
approaches to participation
Ariadne Vromen
16:30 – 17:00
Coffee break
17:00 – 18:30
SYMPOSIUM European citizenship between nationalism and tolerance:
Results from the CATCH-EyoU project
Convenors: Petr Macek, Peter Noack
SYMPOSIUM School as a context for active young Europeans: How textbooks,
teachers and students envision active citizenship in Europe today
Convenors: Isabel Menezes, Norberto Ribeiro
ORAL SESSION Contexts of political participation of European youth
19:00
Welcome reception
Friday, March 3
09:00 – 10:30
SYMPOSIUM In search of European youth active citizenship: Competing
narratives, ethics, and epistemologies
Convenor: Shakuntala Banaji
SYMPOSIUM School and country level contextual influences on youth
citizenship competencies across Europe
Convenor: Philipp Jugert
ORAL SESSION Radicalization/Extremism and alternative styles of political
participation
10:30 – 11:30
KEYNOTE LECTURE Competences for democratic culture: Using education to
empower youth
Martyn Barrett
11:30 – 12:00
Coffee break
12:00 – 13:30
SYMPOSIUM Youth extremism and radicalization: Critical interventions
Convenors: Hilary Pilkington, Alexandra Koronaiou
SYMPOSIUM European youth in the media landscape: Challenges and findings
Convenor: Pina Lalli
ORAL SESSION The identity of European youth
13:30 – 14:00
POSTER SESSION
14:00 – 15:00
Lunch break
15:00 – 17:30
INTERACTIVE EVENT involving High School students
17:30 – 19:00
INTERACTIVE EVENT involving High School students (cont.)
INTERACTIVE EVENT involving Erasmus students
ORAL SESSION Digital participation of European youth
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Saturday, March 4
09:00 – 10:00
KEYNOTE LECTURE Are they truly radical? Representations of the social
order, identities, ideologies and political engagement of young people in
Europe
Xenia Chryssochoou
10:00 – 10:30
Coffee break
10:30 – 12:00
ORAL SESSION Meanings and representations of democracy and political
participation of European youth
ORAL SESSION Strategies and projects to promote youth active citizenship in
Europe
ORAL SESSION European youth and in a changing world
INTERACTIVE EVENT The Youth Organizations Blvd
12:00 – 13:30
ROUND TABLE What promotes and what hinders young citizens to become
active in European politics?
Moderators: Elvira Cicognani, Frosso Motti-Stefanidi
13:30 – 14:00
Closing of the conference
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Detailed Programme
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Thursday, March 2
12:30 – 14:30
Registration
14:30 – 15:00
Welcome
Ground Floor
Camelia
Chair: Frosso Motti-Stefanidi, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece
15:00 – 15:30
Overview of CATCH-EyoU Project
Camelia
Elvira Cicognani, CATCH-EyoU Project Coordinator, University of Bologna, Italy
15:30 – 16:30
Keynote Lecture
Camelia
IMAGINING POLITICAL FUTURES: YOUNG PEOPLE’S NEW APPROACHES TO PARTICIPATION
Ariadne Vromen, University of Sydney, Australia
Chair: Erik Amnå, Örebro University, Sweden
Young people participate in politics, but their participation mostly now occurs online and reflects the
rise of engaged citizenship norms. Using original research data from The Civic Network project in
Australia, UK and USA, we found that social media provides a space and set of tools for many young
people to show symbolic solidarity, share information, make political statements, and issue calls to
action. Yet at the same time, there is a deep reluctance to engage in politics on social media for fear
of introducing conflict and disagreement into their everyday social networks. Social media is
therefore not the panacea for re-engaging young people with democratic politics. In asking young
people to imagine their own political futures we found deep concerns about inadequate political
knowledge, and stories of political exclusion and disaffection. We need to scrutinise the
underpinnings to continued political inequality, and challenge formal actors to better facilitate
young people’s representation and inclusion.
16:30 – 17:00
Coffee break
Mezzanine Hall
17:00 – 18:30
Symposium
Camelia
EUROPEAN CITIZENSHIP BETWEEN NATIONALISM AND TOLERANCE: RESULTS FROM THE CATCHEyoU PROJECT
Convenors:
Petr Macek, Masaryk University, Czech Republic
Peter Noack, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Germany
Current events in Europe and the rest of the world are characterized by increasing interconnections
and migration between different regions, but also by opposing tendencies towards ethnocentrism
and xenophobia. This could represent a particular challenge to adolescents and young adults who
strive to accomplish developmental tasks of forming their identity and sociopolitical attitudes. The
aim of this symposium is to show the interconnections between different aspects of European
citizenship of young people and their tolerant versus ethnocentric orientations. All papers employ
survey data collected as a part of the CATCH-EyoU project in eight European countries in 2016. First
paper (Enchikova et al.) will empirically establish a structure of youth active citizenship, embracing
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both behavioural and attitudinal components, and asses its relation to nationalist and tolerant
attitudes. Second paper (Landberg et al.) will examine European citizenship from the perspective of
identity. Specifically, it will present a typology of young people according to their identifications at
various levels (country and European) and it will evaluate possible predictors and outcomes of these
identifications. Third paper (Šerek et al.) will focus on the affective dimension of citizenship by
showing how different worries about future of one’s country interact with feelings of alienation,
producing tendencies toward greater nationalism and intolerance. Finally, last paper (Zani et al.) will
study the behavioural dimension of citizenship by testing how different forms of cross-border
mobility (e.g., short and long stays for different purposes, physical mobility versus virtual mobility)
affect one’s attitudes toward democracy and tolerance.
The concept of Active Citizenship in cross-cultural perspective
Ekaterina Enchikova, Norberto Ribeiro, Tiago Neves, Pedro Ferreira, University of Porto, Portugal
Being both – a European and a national citizen? Comparing young people’s identification with
Europe and their home country and associations with engagement across eight European
countries
Monique Landberg, Katharina Eckstein, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Germany
Worrying never did anyone any good? The link between youth political alienation, worries, and
intolerance
Jan Šerek, Petr Macek, Masaryk University, Czech Republic
Cross-border mobility among young Europeans: Implications of contact for attitudes toward
democracy and tolerance toward immigrants
Bruna Zani, Elvira Cicognani, Cinzia Albanesi, Davide Mazzoni, University of Bologna, Italy
Thursday, March 2, 17:00 – 18:30
Symposium
Jasmine
SCHOOL AS A CONTEXT FOR ACTIVE YOUNG EUROPEANS: HOW TEXTBOOKS, TEACHERS AND
STUDENTS ENVISION ACTIVE CITIZENSHIP IN EUROPE TODAY
Convenors: Isabel Menezes, Norberto Ribeiro, University of Porto, Portugal
Discussant: Manuel Loff, University of Porto, Portugal
Discussions on the role of education in promoting active citizenship are as old as education itself,
and until today research shows that education is a strong predictor of conventional (voting, e.g.,
Hadjar & Beck, 2010) and unconventional (petitions, boycotts, demonstrations, e.g., Stockemer,
2014) civic and political behaviours. The goals of the Catch-EyoU project involve not only identifying
key discourses on the EU and youth active citizenship at in school textbooks and among teachers and
students, but also to investigate potential tensions in these discourses. The papers in this symposium
explore this by contrasting sources and actors, but also types of schools and tracks. This analysis will
allow us to discuss the role of schools as significant contexts in the lives of young Europeans where,
hopefully, they learn to speak out, express their views, confront and negotiate their differences and
develop a “love of the world”.
Different expectations in civic education: A comparison of upper secondary school textbooks in
Sweden
Cecilia Arensmeier, Jasmine Ivarsson, Örebro University, Sweden
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Textbooks as a tool to promote active citizenship. What do Italian teachers think?
Cinzia Albanesi, Elvira Cicognani, University of Bologna, Italy
Europe goes to school: Portuguese textbooks and teachers' visions on the learning of European
identity and citizenship in schools
Filipe Piedade, Norberto Ribeiro, Tiago Neves, Manuel Loff, Isabel Menezes
University of Porto, Portugal
Modes and spaces of active citizenship according to Estonian students, teachers and textbooks
Katrin Kello, University of Tartu, Estonia
Thursday, March 2, 17:00 – 18:30
Oral Session
Rose
CONTEXTS OF POLITICAL PARTICIPATION OF EUROPEAN YOUTH
Chair: Dagmar Strohmeier, University of Applied Sciences Upper Austria, Austria
Political participation and psychological engagement for the European Union: The importance of
visions and worries for the future of Europe
Dagmar Strohmeier, University of Applied Sciences Upper Austria, Austria
Social communities as drivers in youth civic participation
Maria Bruselius-Jensen, Niels Ulrik Sørensen, Aalborg University, Denmark
Family, school and peer contexts as predictors of youth participation
Antonella Guarino, Iana Tzankova, Elvira Cicognani, Bruna Zani, University of Bologna, Italy
Beyond voting: Components and predictors of political participation and civic engagement among
adolescents in Greece
Vassilis Pavlopoulos, Dimitra Kostoglou, Georgia Tzima, Frosso Motti-Stefanidi
National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece
Thursday, March 2, 19:00
Welcome reception
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Mezzanine Hall
Friday, March 3
09:00 – 10:30
Symposium
Camelia
IN SEARCH OF EUROPEAN YOUTH ACTIVE CITIZENSHIP: COMPETING NARRATIVES, ETHICS, AND
EPISTEMOLOGIES
Convenor: Shakuntala Banaji, London School of Economics and Political Science, UK
How do adults and young people conceptualise digital citizenship and citizenship more broadly? How
are these conceptualizations playing out in the academic and policy literatures? And what kinds of
conceptual and methodological patterns emerge from systematic studies of these literatures?
Ranging broadly across qualitative and quantitative methods to examine conceptualizations of youth
active citizenship and participation in the extant cross-disciplinary literature, this panel asks what
scholars, policymakers and practitioners really mean when they promote participation and active
citizenship, and whether it is possible from such fuzzy and contested terms to elaborate a singular
theory or practice of ‘European youth active citizenship’. From the argument that concepts of
citizenship and citizenship education in relation to the digital landscape are evolving stripped of their
socio-cultural and ethical underpinnings, to the finding that that studies connected to internal,
status-based factors connected to European citizenship dominate the literature over those
examining external, practice-based factors, our papers shake up comforting connections between
citizenship, participation, and democracy.
Citizenship education in the digital era: Challenges for the critical tradition
Ioanna Noula, London School of Economics and Political Science, UK
European youth active citizenship imaginaries: Conceptual insights and gaps in the academic
literature
Sam Mejias, Shakuntala Banaji, London School of Economics and Political Science, UK
Framing young citizens and active citizenship: Towards a nuanced typology
Shakuntala Banaji, London School of Economics and Political Science, UK
09:00 – 10:30
Symposium
Rose
SCHOOL AND COUNTRY LEVEL CONTEXTUAL INFLUENCES ON YOUTH CITIZENSHIP COMPETENCIES
ACROSS EUROPE
Convenor: Philipp Jugert, University of Leipzig, Germany
In this symposium we bring together work that goes beyond looking at young people's civic
competence from the perspective of individual resources and motivations. By taking a multi-level
perspective, this work addresses the important question how contextual level factors on the school
but also on the country-level affect young people's civic competences either directly or indirectly
through moderating the influence of individual-level factors. Van Goethem examines how students'
own perceptions of interdependence, moral responsibility, and agency with regard to community
service but also their school-organized opportunities to reflect on these characteristics affects
adolescents' civic competencies. Her results show that both individual perceptions but also schoolorganized opportunities for reflection matter. Eckstein et al. tested reciprocal dynamics between
classroom climate and student's tolerance. Their findings underline the importance of a positive
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classroom climate for the development of young people's political attitudes. Šerek scrutinized
country-level predictors of civic participation among European youth based on large-scale European
surveys. He finds non-institutionalized participation to be less frequent in post-communist and less
equal countries and civic participation at the European and international level to be less frequent in
countries affected by economic crisis and with high number of youth not in employment or
education. Lastly, Jugert examined classroom and country level contextual moderators of the
association between national and European identity. His findings point to the powerful effects of
context in shaping the relationship between national and European identity.
Explaining the effects of community service and reflection on adolescents' civic competences: The
IMAR community service model
Anne van Goethem, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Reciprocal dynamics between classroom climate and students’ intolerant Attitudes: A multilevel
perspective
Katharina Eckstein1, Burkhard Gniewosz2, Peter Noack1
1
Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Germany
2
University of Salzburg, Austria
What contexts help young people to participate? Predicting country-level differences in civic
participation among European youth
Jan Šerek, Masaryk University, Czech Republic
Contextual moderators of the link between national and European identity
Philipp Jugert, University of Leipzig, Germany
Friday, March 3, 09:00 – 10:30
Oral Session
Jasmine
RADICALIZATION/EXTREMISM AND ALTERNATIVE STYLES OF POLITICAL PARTICIPATION
Chair: Veronika Kalmus, University of Tartu, Estonia
Off the radar democracy: Insights from abroad of young people’s alternate acts of citizenship
Lucas Walsh, Monash University, Australia
Rosalyn Black, Deakin University, Australia
Breaking alienation. The role of radical right parties in boosting political engagement
Erik Amnå, Örebro University, Sweden
Jennifer Fitzgerald, Örebro University, Sweden; University of Colorado at Boulder, USA
Four routes to violent political activity
Viktor Dahl, Örebro University, Sweden
Long-lasting shadows of (post)communism? Generational and ethnic divides in political and civic
participation in Estonia
Veronika Kalmus, Ragne Kõuts-Klemm, Mai Beilmann, Andu Rämmer, Signe Opermann
University of Tartu, Estonia
Can sportive contexts be looked as a bridge (to fill the gap) between young Europeans and EU
institutions?
Teresa Silva Dias, Nuno Corte-Real, Isabel Menezes, António Manuel Fonseca
University of Porto, Portugal
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Friday, March 3, 10:30 – 11:30
Keynote Lecture
Camelia
COMPETENCES FOR DEMOCRATIC CULTURE: USING EDUCATION TO EMPOWER YOUTH
Martyn Barrett, University of Surrey, UK
Chair: Bruna Zani, University of Bologna, Italy
This presentation will provide an overview of the Council of Europe project “Competences for
Democratic Culture”. The project is developing a new European reference framework of the
competences that enable people to participate effectively as democratic citizens within culturally
diverse societies. The framework therefore specifies the competences that young people ought to
acquire through the formal education process in order to become effective participatory citizens in
such societies. For this reason, the framework will contain detailed guidance for ministries of
education on curriculum design, pedagogical planning and assessment in civic/citizenship education
for use at all levels of formal education ranging from preschool through to higher education. The
framework, which has been strongly endorsed by European Education Ministers, will be used to
inform educational decision-making and planning across Europe, enabling national educational
systems to be harnessed for the preparation of young people for life as competent democratic
citizens. The framework is designed to empower youth, by equipping them with the ability to
function as autonomous social agents who are capable of choosing and pursuing their own goals in
life within the context of democratic institutions and respect for human rights.
Friday, March 3, 11:30 – 12:00
Coffee break
Mezzanine Hall
Friday, March 3, 12:00 – 13:30
Symposium
Camelia
YOUTH EXTREMISM AND RADICALIZATION: CRITICAL INTERVENTIONS
Convenors:
Hilary Pilkington, University of Manchester, UK
Alexandra Koronaiou, Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences, Greece
Discussant:
Xenia Chryssochoou, Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences, Greece
In the context of rising radical right wing populism across Europe and North America and security
concerns about ‘home-grown’ Islamist violent extremism, this symposium brings a critical
perspective to the discussion of youth radicalism and extremism. It brings together papers based on
new survey, interview and ethnographic research from across Europe but with a specific focus on
Greece, the UK and Norway. Contributions demonstrate that, while support for radical or extremist
ideas is a minority position among young people across Europe, to view the radical right as a
dangerous extremist fringe separate from a tolerant ‘mainstream’ is inadequate; views and
experiences lie, rather, on a continuum. The contributors critically interrogate explanations of the
rise of right wing extremism as a natural corollary of financial crisis and austerity, pointing to the role
of previously emergent ideological and political affinities and networks. They challenge also the
attribution of Islamist extremism to religious fundamentalism by pointing to the role of concrete
political concerns and social grievance as well as the relational dimension of radicalization (seen, for
example, in the interaction of radical Islamist and anti-Islam/far-right extremism). To address these
criticisms, contributors point to the need for future research agendas to be shaped by a more social
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approach, which envisages extremism and radicalization as: complex (not linear); situational
(emerging as the outcome of interaction including choice); emotional (as well as ideological); and
dynamic (spatially and temporally). Finally, the symposium will consider the implications of these
critical interventions for effective policy responses.
Golden Dawn, austerity and young people: The rise of fascist extremism among young people in
contemporary Greek society
Alexandra Koronaiou, Evangelos Lagos, Alexandros Sakellariou, Stelios Kymionis, Irini Chiotaki-Poulou
Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences, Greece
Youth receptivity to radical right agendas: What do we know? And why does it matter?
Hilary Pilkington, University of Manchester, UK
Radical right wing anti-Islamism versus radical Islam in the Norwegian youth context: Polarising
relations with global roots
Viggo Jan Vestel, NOVA, HiOA, Norway
Friday, March 3, 12:00 – 13:30
Symposium
Jasmine
EUROPEAN YOUTH IN THE MEDIA LANDSCAPE: CHALLENGES AND FINDINGS
Convenor: Pina Lalli, University of Bologna, Italy
The media represent one of the key actors in the public European debate. In particular, news media
play a crucial role in the selection of problems that deserve public attention, as well as in the process
of opinion formation of European audiences, who have to think of their citizenship also as
transcending the level of the nation-state. Thus, if we are interested in gaining knowledge regarding
how young people in Europe construct their social identity and see their role as citizens within the
European public sphere, we have much to learn about the way they look for information. This issue
appears all the more relevant since surveys and studies have indicated that youth are growing
progressively disenfranchised from the mainstream media, while privileging online sources that are
often positioned at the intersection of information, entertainment, fiction, youth culture, and
advertising. This symposium intends to focus on youth and media consumption in Europe from
different perspectives – both geographical and methodological – with the goal of opening a debate
on young people’s experiences and practices of information and on the main mediated symbolic
environments that can contribute to the structuring of their political knowledge and opinions, as
well as of their political and civic agency, but also of their notion of the European Union. Among the
issues touched upon by the papers included in the symposium are: online journalism and the new
forms of news outlets targeted to young people; youth and levels of trust in the media; the role of
television indirect infotainment; the national perspectives of mainstream news stories.
Disrupting the boundaries of classic news: Youth in search of hybrid knowledge
Pina Lalli, Claudia Capelli, University of Bologna, Italy
That’s all very nice, but…”. A humorous approach to Portuguese politics
Filipe Piedade, Dalila Coelho, Hugo Santos, Mariana Rodrigues, Pedro Ferreira, Tiago Neves, Isabel
Menezes, University of Porto, Portugal
Invisible, vulnerable, terrible: (Young Europeans bracketed out from) the EU-related media agenda
Johana Kotišová, Jakub Macek, Masaryk University, Czech Republic
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Young People’s Trust in Media: Between Mainstream and Alternative News Sources
Alena Macková, Jan Šerek, Jakub Macek, Masaryk University, Czech Republic
Friday, March 3, 12:00 – 13:30
Oral Session
Rose
THE IDENTITY OF EUROPEAN YOUTH
Chair: Andu Rämmer, University of Tartu, Estonia
A critical perspective on “NEET” category. Exploring the overlapping between education
employment and training and the spread of unpaid work
Andrea Pirni, Luca Raffini, University of Genoa, Italy
Exploring the antecedents of youth political engagement: Reflections from a European
comparative ethnography
Sevasti-Melissa Nolas, Christos Varvantakis, University of Sussex, UK
The role of identity in the recall of positive and negative events within extreme political conditions
Panagiota Ropoki, Anna Madoglou, Dimitris Kalamaras
Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences, Greece
Some aspects of social and political engagement among young people from different ethnic groups
in Estonia
Andu Rämmer, University of Tartu, Estonia
Friday, March 3, 13:30 – 14:00
Poster Session
Mezzanine Hall
European Identity: Identity, sense of belonging, stereotypes in today young Europeans. An
empirical contribution
Laura Birtolo, Giosef, Italy
Intercultural competence – a gendered issue?! Analysis of differences in intercultural competence
in a Danish and Norwegian sample of upper secondary school students
Trond Solhaug, Niels Nørgaard Kristensen, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Norway
Youth neither in employment, or education and training in Estonia and in the European Union
Kärt Padur, Tallinn University of Technology, Estonia
How civil society engagement leads to political participation? Learnings from young active
Europeans in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo, and Serbia
Michaela Griesbeck, Eva Tamara Asboth, Christina Krakovsky, University of Vienna, Austria
Community service experience of undergraduate counselling students
Figen Çok, Nergis Hazal Yılmaztürk, TED University, Turkey
The good European citizen: Person-centred analysis of citizenship norms and their correlates in
young people from eight European countries
Iana Tzankova, Antonella Guarino, Elvira Cicognani, Bruna Zani, University of Bologna, Italy
Being NEET. Drawing a profile of Italian young adults living in Campania region
Anna Parola, Lucia Donsì, University of Naples Federico II, Italy
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Developing civic engagement through service-learning: A case study in Italy
Christian Compare, Bruna Zani, University of Bologna, Italy
Relationship between community service involvement and basic empathy levels: Determination
and improvements of community service participation among TED University students
Nergis Hazal Yılmaztürk, Burcu Ünal, Aybüke İnan, Tuğçe Temizöz, TED University, Turkey
Exploring civic attitudes and skills within Youth Parliament simulation educational programme
Eleni Makri1, Filotheos Ntalianis2, Vasileios Svolopoulos3
1
Hellenic Parliament Foundation, Greece
2
University of Piraeus, Greece
3
Hellenic Parliament, European Programs Implementation Service, Greece
Youth policies in Italy. Where are we?
Davide Mazzoni, Chiara Cifatte, Elvis Mazzoni, University of Bologna, Italy
Move Your Body
Semanur Uyan, TED University, Turkey
Coping strategies and expectation of NEET youth towards labour market
Viivi Krönström, Tallinn University, Estonia
Patterns and resources for civic engagement of young people in Finland
Pia Nyman-Kurkiala, Mikael Nygård, Patrik Söderberg, Jacob Kurkiala
Åbo Akademi University, Finland
Trust in media revisited: On theorizing and measuring young people's trust in news and
information sources
Štěpán Žádník, Jakub Macek, Alena Macková, Masaryk University, Czech Republic
Friday, March 3, 14:00 – 15:00
Lunch break
Friday, March 3, 15:00 – 17:30
Interactive Event
Mezzanine Hall
Camelia, Jasmine, Rose
INTERACTIVE EVENT INVOLVING HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS
Facilitators:
Elvira Cicognani, University of Bologna, Italy
Erik Amnå, Örebro University, Sweden
Isabel Menezes, University of Porto, Portugal
The interactive event involving High School students will present the first outcomes of the
intervention on youth active citizenship performed within the CATCH-EyoU project. Students from
High Schools in five countries will present and discuss their work and will welcome feedback and
suggestions from conference participants. Three parallel thematic sessions will be organised, based
on the topics of the students’ projects. The schools involved are the following:
Liceo Attilio Bertolucci, Parma, Italy
Gymnazium Zdar nad Sazavou, Brno, Czech Republic
Lobdeburgschule, Jena, Germany
Escola Secundária Dr. Joaquim Gomes Ferreira Alves, Porto, Portugal
Alléskolan, Hallsberg, Sweden
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Friday, March 3, 17:30 – 19:00
Interactive Event
Camelia
INTERACTIVE EVENT INVOLVING HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS (cont.)
Friday, March 3, 17:30 – 19:00
Interactive Event
Jasmine
INTERACTIVE EVENT INVOLVING ERASMUS STUDENTS
Facilitators:
Lorenzo Floresta, Italian Youth Forum; CATCH-EyoU International Youth Panel
Alessandra Coppola, Italian Youth Forum
Laura Birtolo, Italian Youth Forum
This session, coordinated by the CATCH-EyoU International Youth Panel, will present a simulation
game, in the form of a debate, aiming to explore the conditions and potential obstacles in the
dialogue of European youth with EU institutions.
Friday, March 3, 17:30 – 19:00
Oral Session
Rose
DIGITAL PARTICIPATION OF EUROPEAN YOUTH
Chair: Eleni Makri, Hellenic Parliament Foundation, Greece
Project EUth - Tools and tips for mobile and digital youth participation in and across Europe
Evaldas Rupkus, EUth Consortium
International Youth Service of the Federal Republic of Germany, Germany
Exploring civic attitudes and skills within advanced intelligent systems context: The case of
METALOGUE
Eleni Makri1, Dimitris Spiliotopoulos2, Dimitris Koryzis3, Vasileios Svolopoulos3, Panagiotis Brinias3
1
Hellenic Parliament Foundation, Greece
2
FORTH Institute of Computer Science, Greece
3
Hellenic Parliament, European Programs Implementation Service, Greece
Digital religion, a tool for dialogue among Catalan youth?
Josep Lluís Micó Sanz, Míriam Díez Bosch, Alba Sabaté Gauxachs, Ramon Llull University, Spain
STEP: Societal and political engagement of young people in environmental issues
Maria Vogiatzi, Christodoulos Keratidis, Panagiota Syropoulou, Pantelis Pekakis, Machi Simeonidou
DRAXIS Environmental SA, Greece
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Saturday, March 4
09:00 – 10:00
Keynote Lecture
Camelia
ARE THEY TRULY RADICAL? REPRESENTATIONS OF THE SOCIAL ORDER, IDENTITIES, IDEOLOGIES
AND POLITICAL ENGAGEMENT OF YOUNG PEOPLE IN EUROPE
Xenia Chryssochoou, Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences, Greece
Chair: Frosso Motti-Stefanidi, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece
This presentation will reflect on the current state of young people’s political engagement with a
focus on Europe. What are the messages that we can draw looking at the diverse picture of youth’s
political behaviours and what social and political psychology can contribute to their understanding?
Informed by theories and research on representations of the social order, social identities and
ideologies, I will re-visit the term radical in order to understand what is really at stake when young
people engage in violent political actions and how these actions reflect a particular representation of
the social order and impact on their identities. Examples will be drawn from different forms of
activism in relation to the December 2008 revolt of youth in Greece but also from young Muslims
engagement with extreme ideologies.
10:00 – 10:30
Coffee break
Mezzanine Hall
10:30 – 12:00
Oral Session
Camelia
MEANINGS AND REPRESENTATIONS OF DEMOCRACY AND POLITICAL PARTICIPATION OF
EUROPEAN YOUTH
Chair: Petr Macek, Masaryk University, Czech Republic
Party choice and family influence in the age of modernity: Students’ reflections on sources of
political influence on their party choice as first time voters in a Norwegian election
Trond Solhaug, Niels Nørgaard Kristensen, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Norway
Social representations of “apolitical” citizens regard to the type of political engagement among
Greek youth
Katerina Karageorgou, Anna Madoglou, Dimitris Kalamaras
Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences, Greece
The democratic culture of young people in Albania
Edita Fino, Natallia Sianko, Mark Small, University Marin Barleti, Albania
Meanings of democracy: How Czech adolescents talk about of democracy and attitudes toward
immigrants
Zuzana Scott, Petr Macek, Masaryk University, Czech Republic
Youth, citizenship and democracy – Findings from a youth survey in two Nordic regions
Jan Grannäs, University of Gävle, Sweden
Pia Nyman-Kurkiala, Jacob Kurkiala, Henrik Kurkiala, Åbo Akademi University, Finland
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10:30 – 12:00
Oral session
Jasmine
STRATEGIES AND PROJECTS TO PROMOTE YOUTH ACTIVE CITIZENSHIP IN EUROPE
Chair: Airi-Alina Allaste, Tallinn University, Estonia
European youth reinvent democracy in the digital era and propose actions and projects to increase
their civil and political participation
Yiannis Laouris, Maria Georgiou, Future Worlds Centre, Cyprus
Sharing the journeys: Combining political activism and civic engagement in youth alternative styles
of participation
Ilaria Pitti, Örebro University, Sweden
Youth-adult partnerships promoting youth civic and community participation
Micaela Lucchesi, ISPA - Instituto Universitário, Italy
Citizenship education: Meanings of young activists and attitudes of youth policy makers
Airi-Alina Allaste, Mai Beilmann, Tallinn University, Estonia
Framing European youth
Jasmine Ivarsson, Örebro University, Sweden
Saturday, March 4, 10:30 – 12:00
Oral Session
Rose
EUROPEAN YOUTH IN A CHANGING WORLD
Chair: Anu Toots, Tallinn University, Estonia
Neither active nor passive! Standby citizens and the theory of connective action
Behzad Fallahzadeh, University of Heidelberg, Germany
Erik Amnå, Örebro University, Sweden
What predicts attitudes towards immigration and free movement among European adolescents?
Anu Toots, Tõnu Idnurm, Tallinn University, Estonia
Living in a suburb area. Which future for the Youth of the Metropolitan City of Naples?
Agostino Carbone, Caterina Arcidiacono, University of Naples Federico II, Italy
Factors influencing science communication process in Latvia
Justīne Vīķe, Rīga Stradiņš University, Latvia
Saturday, March 4, 10:30 – 12:00
Interactive Event
Mezzanine Hall
YOUTH ORGANIZATIONS BLVD
Facilitator: Domniki Kouitzoglou, Greek Youth Forum; CATCH-EyoU International Youth Panel
This session, coordinated by the CATCH-EyoU International Youth Panel, consists of an exhibition of
projects and activities carried out by local youth organizations, as follows:
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AEGEE-Athina, www.aegee-athina.gr
AIESEC, aiesec.org
AIESEC in Athens – Athens University of Economics and Business, www.aiesec.gr
Association of Social Responsibility for Children and Youth, www.skep.gr
Club for UNESCO of Piraeus and Islands, unescopireas.gr
Erasmus Student Network Greece, www.esngreece.gr
European Democrat Students, edsnet.eu
Hellenic Youth Participation, hellenicyouthparticipation.com
Όμιλος Νέων, Επιστημόνων και Επαγγελματιών HU.M.A.N.S., www.humans.gr
Scientific Society of Hellenic Medical Students, www.eefie.org
Scouts of Greece, www.sep.org.gr
To Potami Youth political party, topotami.gr
Saturday, March 4, 12:00 – 13:30
Round Table
Camelia
WHAT PROMOTES AND WHAT HINDERS YOUNG CITIZENS TO BECOME ACTIVE IN EUROPEAN
POLITICS?
Moderators:
Elvira Cicognani, University of Bologna, Italy
Frosso Motti-Stefanidi, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece
Panel members:
Erik Amnå, Professor of Political Science, Örebro University, Sweden
Dora Giannaki, political scientist, youth expert and trainer, Panteion University of Social and Political
Sciences, Greece
Yannos Livanos, Former Secretary General, Secretariat of Youth, Greece
Eva Majewski, Secretary General, Young Causus of CDU/CSU in the German Bundestag; CATCH-EyoU
International Youth Panel, Germany
Monica Menapace, Open and Inclusive Societies, Directorate-General for Research and Innovation,
European Commission
Saturday, March 4, 13:30 – 14:00
Closing
20
Camelia
Abstracts
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Thursday, March 2
15:30 – 16:30
Keynote Lecture
Camelia
IMAGINING POLITICAL FUTURES: YOUNG PEOPLE’S NEW APPROACHES TO PARTICIPATION
Ariadne Vromen, University of Sydney, Australia
Young people participate in politics, but their participation mostly now occurs online and reflects the
rise of engaged citizenship norms. Using original research data from The Civic Network project in
Australia, UK and USA, we found that social media provides a space and set of tools for many young
people to show symbolic solidarity, share information, make political statements, and issue calls to
action. Yet at the same time, there is a deep reluctance to engage in politics on social media for fear
of introducing conflict and disagreement into their everyday social networks. Social media is
therefore not the panacea for re-engaging young people with democratic politics. In asking young
people to imagine their own political futures we found deep concerns about inadequate political
knowledge, and stories of political exclusion and disaffection. We need to scrutinise the
underpinnings to continued political inequality, and challenge formal actors to better facilitate
young people’s representation and inclusion.
17:00 – 18:30
Symposium
Camelia
EUROPEAN CITIZENSHIP BETWEEN NATIONALISM AND TOLERANCE: RESULTS FROM THE CATCHEyoU PROJECT
Convenors:
Petr Macek, Masaryk University, Czech Republic
Peter Noack, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Germany
Current events in Europe and the rest of the world are characterized by increasing interconnections
and migration between different regions, but also by opposing tendencies towards ethnocentrism
and xenophobia. This could represent a particular challenge to adolescents and young adults who
strive to accomplish developmental tasks of forming their identity and sociopolitical attitudes. The
aim of this symposium is to show the interconnections between different aspects of European
citizenship of young people and their tolerant versus ethnocentric orientations. All papers employ
survey data collected as a part of the CATCH-EyoU project in eight European countries in 2016. First
paper (Enchikova et al.) will empirically establish a structure of youth active citizenship, embracing
both behavioural and attitudinal components, and asses its relation to nationalist and tolerant
attitudes. Second paper (Landberg et al.) will examine European citizenship from the perspective of
identity. Specifically, it will present a typology of young people according to their identifications at
various levels (country and European) and it will evaluate possible predictors and outcomes of these
identifications. Third paper (Šerek et al.) will focus on the affective dimension of citizenship by
showing how different worries about future of one’s country interact with feelings of alienation,
producing tendencies toward greater nationalism and intolerance. Finally, last paper (Zani et al.) will
study the behavioural dimension of citizenship by testing how different forms of cross-border
mobility (e.g., short and long stays for different purposes, physical mobility versus virtual mobility)
affect one’s attitudes toward democracy and tolerance.
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The concept of Active Citizenship in cross-cultural perspective
Ekaterina Enchikova, Norberto Ribeiro, Tiago Neves, Pedro Ferreira, University of Porto, Portugal
Erik Amnå, Örebro University, Sweden
Shakuntala Banaji, London School of Economics and Political Science, UK
Elvira Cicognani, University of Bologna, Italy
Veronika Kalmus, University of Tartu, Estonia
Petr Macek, Masaryk University, Czech Republic
Isabel Menezes, University of Porto, Portugal
Frosso Motti-Stefanidi, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece
Peter Noack, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Germany
Although the concept of Active Citizenship is widely used and intuitively comprehensible, there is no
consensus on its precise definition. There is a number of concepts connected with Active Citizenship,
such as political and civic engagement, conventional and non-conventional forms of political and
civic participation, civic and citizenship education, civic skills, civic rights and responsibilities, social
integration and communication, disengagement and political apathy, and others (Barrett & Zani,
2014). The overview of different studies shows that the definition of Active Citizenship may vary
depending on the research interest, political situation, historical and cultural context (Torney-Purta
et al., 2015). Thus, the question arises if a single definition can be valid for different groups of
people. This presentation will contribute to the definition of Active Citizenship by investigating its
structure and components across countries and age groups. Based on the data from Catch-EyoU
questionnaire, this study will seek to answer the questions of structural measurement invariance
and cross-cultural differences using Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) and Item Response Theory
(IRT). As a result, we plan to present a valid and reliable methodology for cross-cultural comparisons
of Active Citizenship that will take into account cultural differences of the construct or prove their
irrelevance. Finally, we will investigate the relationships between Active Citizenship and the relevant
social dimensions (such as nationalism and attitudes towards immigration) across countries.
Being both – a European and a national citizen? Comparing young people’s identification with
Europe and their home country and associations with engagement across eight European
countries
Monique Landberg, Katharina Eckstein, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Germany
Erik Amnå, Örebro University, Sweden
Shakuntala Banaji, London School of Economics and Political Science, UK
Elvira Cicognani, University of Bologna, Italy
Veronika Kalmus, University of Tartu, Estonia
Petr Macek, Masaryk University, Czech Republic
Isabel Menezes, University of Porto, Portugal
Frosso Motti-Stefanidi, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece
Peter Noack, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Germany
It is a well-established fact that forming a mature and coherent political identity is one
developmental task in adolescence and young adulthood. However, given different degrees of
commitment on the regional, national, and European level, the question remains whether young
people’s identification varies among those spheres? Drawing on data from the Catch-EyoU-project, it
was the goal of this study to examine whether young people can be classified according to their
commitment toward their home country and their attitude toward Europe. The study based on
young people from the Czech Republic, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Estonia, Italy, Portugal, and
Sweden (N=1,300; Mage=19.91). Cluster analysis revealed that a five-cluster solution composed of (1)
high EU, high NAT identification (n=556), low EU, low NAT identification (n=146), (3) moderate EU,
moderate NAT identification (n=328), (4) low EU, high NAT identification (n=196), and (5) high EU,
23
low NAT identification (n=73) fit the data best. Multinomial regression analyses pointed to significant
differences between the groups according to age, gender, and country of origin. Whereas male
participants in particular were more likely than female participants to be in the low EU/high NATgroup, older participants were more likely than younger participants to be in the high EU/high NAT
as well as in the high EU/low NAT-group. Besides, results also pointed to significant differences
according to country of origin. The study discusses these findings, together with differences across
the groups in terms of (psychological) engagement (i.e., civic participation, internal efficacy,
information seeking), in detail.
Worrying never did anyone any good? The link between youth political alienation, worries, and
intolerance
Jan Šerek, Petr Macek, Masaryk University, Czech Republic
Erik Amnå, Örebro University, Sweden
Shakuntala Banaji, London School of Economics and Political Science, UK
Elvira Cicognani, University of Bologna, Italy
Veronika Kalmus, University of Tartu, Estonia
Isabel Menezes, University of Porto, Portugal
Frosso Motti-Stefanidi, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece
Peter Noack, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Germany
Feelings of uncertainty about subjectively important social issues and political alienation are
expected to produce phenomena such as out-group derogation, pressure to opinion uniformity,
support for autocratic decision-making, or support for extreme ideologies (e.g., Hogg & Blaylock,
2012). In this paper, we will examine whether adolescents’ and young adults’ worries about the
future of their country and their alienation from the institutions responsible for handling these
worries do predict greater intolerance, authoritarianism and nationalism in young people. Employing
data collected from 16 to 26-year-olds in eight European countries as a part of the CATCH-EyoU
project, we aim to achieve several goals. First, we will present age, gender, socioeconomic and crossnational comparisons of worries in different domains (political, economic, immigration) and political
alienation at different levels (national, European). Second, we will examine whether worries and
alienation constitute consistent individual-level patterns, reflecting different orientations of young
people toward future development in the society. Finally, we will test whether the individual
orientation characterized by increased worries and alienation from institutions, compared to other
orientations, does predict the inclination toward intolerant and authoritarian attitudes. Results will
be discussed with respect to the role of emotions in political and civic socialization of young
Europeans.
Cross-border mobility among young Europeans: Implications of contact for attitudes toward
democracy and tolerance toward immigrants
Bruna Zani, Elvira Cicognani, Cinzia Albanesi, Davide Mazzoni, University of Bologna, Italy
Erik Amnå, Örebro University, Sweden
Shakuntala Banaji, London School of Economics and Political Science, UK
Veronika Kalmus, University of Tartu, Estonia
Petr Macek, Masaryk University, Czech Republic
Isabel Menezes, University of Porto, Portugal
Frosso Motti-Stefanidi, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece
Peter Noack, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Germany
During adolescence and young adulthood, individuals gradually develop attitudes toward a variety of
others who are very different from themselves and from their families. In this process, the
opportunity to get in contact with people from different cultures can have an important role (Cao,
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Galinsky, & Maddux, 2013). Under certain circumstances, intergroup contact can reduce prejudice
toward specific outgroups and promote more general tolerant feelings toward different cultures. In
this sense, for many youths, cross-border mobility, and the resulting social experiences, may
represent an important chance for developing democratic attitudes and tolerance toward
immigrants. The latter can be considered important dimensions of young people active EU
citizenship. The aim of this contribution is to investigate the relationship between different forms of
cross-border mobility, attitudes toward democracy and tolerance toward immigrants. The analyses
are based on the data from a multinational survey, including samples from eight European countries,
as part of the project CATCH-EyoU. Measures include demographics (gender, age: 16-18 and 20-26
yrs old), mobility experiences, virtual cross-border contacts, attitudes toward democracy and
tolerance toward immigrants and refugees. Results demonstrate the existence of different patterns
individual mobility, combining short and long stays for different purposes. The specific contribution
of physical forms of mobility to the development of attitudes toward democracy and tolerance is
considered with respect to other forms of virtual contact. The results are analyzed in regard to the
specific features and conditions that make mobility to have a positive or null effect on the
development of positive attitudes toward democracy and immigrants. Implications for future youth
mobility programmes across Europe will be discussed.
Thursday, March 2, 17:00 – 18:30
Symposium
Jasmine
SCHOOL AS A CONTEXT FOR ACTIVE YOUNG EUROPEANS: HOW TEXTBOOKS, TEACHERS AND
STUDENTS ENVISION ACTIVE CITIZENSHIP IN EUROPE TODAY
Convenors: Isabel Menezes, Norberto Ribeiro, University of Porto, Portugal
Discussant: Manuel Loff, University of Porto, Portugal
Discussions on the role of education in promoting active citizenship are as old as education itself,
and until today research shows that education is a strong predictor of conventional (voting, e.g.,
Hadjar & Beck, 2010) and unconventional (petitions, boycotts, demonstrations, e.g., Stockemer,
2014) civic and political behaviours. The goals of the Catch-EyoU project involve not only identifying
key discourses on the EU and youth active citizenship at in school textbooks and among teachers and
students, but also to investigate potential tensions in these discourses. The papers in this symposium
explore this by contrasting sources and actors, but also types of schools and tracks. This analysis will
allow us to discuss the role of schools as significant contexts in the lives of young Europeans where,
hopefully, they learn to speak out, express their views, confront and negotiate their differences and
develop a “love of the world”.
Different expectations in civic education: A comparison of upper secondary school textbooks in
Sweden
Cecilia Arensmeier, Jasmine Ivarsson, Örebro University, Sweden
The article compares textbooks in social studies and English in Swedish upper secondary school, with
focus on the civic education task of developing citizens with democratic value-orientations, abilities
and knowledge. The books are examined in terms of topics covered, extension and depth in the
coverage, and level of complexity and problematizing. The analysis shows that the expectations on
student capacity and on their future role as citizens differ. With some nuances, the books for
vocational study programmes are generally more basic and shallow, and demand and expect less of
the students, compared to the books on university preparatory programmes. In the long run, this
might have consequences for peoples' possibilities to be politically active and thus for political
equality.
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Textbooks as a tool to promote active citizenship. What do Italian teachers think?
Cinzia Albanesi, Elvira Cicognani, University of Bologna, Italy
According to Schissler (1990) textbooks play central role in classrooms, because they structure the
teaching-learning processes and anchor “the political and social norms of a society”. Anderson
(1991) argues that textbooks have traditionally been designed to create loyal citizens and a culturally
homogenous society with distinct national boundaries; this tradition, however, is challenged by
migration and the emergency of new transnational identities, like the European one. Textbooks,
according to recent analysis conducted in different countries (Soysal and Schissler 2005; Faas, 2011;
Çayır, 2015), now include narratives of diversity, references to different groups with an attempt to
“rewrite” national narratives in more inclusive and multicultural terms. Has the tradition of
textbooks been challenged by the emergency of new forms of civic and political engagement? Do
textbooks include narratives of critical citizenship and of young critical (vs. loyal) citizens? To our
knowledge this kind of analysis has not been performed yet. Based on these premises, aim of this
paper is twofold: to analyse to what extent Italian textbooks used in secondary education deals with
these challenges and to understand the perspective of Italian teachers on these issues. We have
analysed 6 different disciplinary textbooks (ESL, History and Citizenship Education) currently most
used in Italy, and interviewed 20 teachers, from 5 different Italian schools. Preliminary results show
that narrative of diversity can be found in Italian textbooks, but they rarely deal with youth active
and critical citizenship. Overall teachers recognize many limits of textbooks, and propose a limited
set of strategies to overcome them.
Europe goes to school: Portuguese textbooks and teachers' visions on the learning of European
identity and citizenship in schools
Filipe Piedade, Norberto Ribeiro, Tiago Neves, Manuel Loff, Isabel Menezes
University of Porto, Portugal
The papers contrast and compares visions of European identity and citizenship that emerge from the
analysis of textbooks of History, Citizenship and EFL with the perspective that teachers from those
disciplines. The analysis of textbooks reveals the relative absence of topics concerning the EU,
including not only discussion of Europe and a locus of sense of belonging but also a locus for a
European active citizenship. Interviews with teachers allow us to explore how these absences are
dealt with in real schools, and how, against all odds, European identity and politics emerge (or not)
in the daily life of teachers and students.
Modes and spaces of active citizenship according to Estonian students, teachers and textbooks
Katrin Kello, University of Tartu, Estonia
Conceptualising ‘active citizenship’ in a broad way, the presentation will analyse how young people’s
lifeworlds and active citizenship are represented by upper secondary students, teachers, and in a
sample of school textbooks in Estonia. Each part of young people’s lifeworlds (e.g. school, work,
hobbies and leisure) can be interpreted in different ways with regard to their potential for active
citizenship. Modes of active citizenship are determined by the time available, by the spaces where
the people spend their time, as well as by understandings of what it means to be young. For
example, both ‘school’ or ‘home’ can be represented as places where a lot of studying takes place,
so that no time and energy is left for other activities. But they can also be represented as spaces for
practicing ‘civic talk’, learning about participation opportunities, and finding motivation. It is not
unusual for Estonian youth to work part-time during their upper secondary studies. Work, too, can
be represented either as hindrance or gateway to participation in the society. The data – textbooks,
interviews and group discussions – reflect how expectations of young people, and what they are
26
given credit for, varies between contexts. Another focus of the presentation will be possibilities to
support young people’s initiative and activism, as represented in the data.
Thursday, March 2, 17:00 – 18:30
Oral Session
Rose
CONTEXTS OF POLITICAL PARTICIPATION OF EUROPEAN YOUTH
Political participation and psychological engagement for the European Union: The importance of
visions and worries for the future of Europe
Dagmar Strohmeier, University of Applied Sciences Upper Austria, Austria
It was investigated whether the visions and worries for the future of Europe of young persons aged
16 to 25 years translate into conventional and non-conventional political participation and
psychological engagement for the European Union. The main theoretical idea of the present study is
that two mechanisms are driving participatory behaviour for the European Union. To begin with, we
assume that the content of the visions and worries of a future Europe matters. Second, we
hypothesize that more generalized efficacy believes are important as well. To test this theoretical
idea, a mixed method study was conducted in seven European countries. Based on qualitative
interviews a comprehensive list of 39 future visions and 31 future worries was developed and
integrated in a large scale Pan-European quantitative survey. Young people also filled in validated
scales to measure internal, external and collective efficacy as well as conventional and nonconventional political participation and psychological engagement. In Austria, 1348 young persons
aged 16 to 25 years answered the online-survey. Exploratory factor analyses were conducted to
check the newly developed worries and visions scales. Result revealed that conventional political
participation (=future voting) was not associated with any worry or vision among the Austrian youth.
It was also revealed that internal efficacy but not external or collective efficacy was moderately
related with the 3 kinds of participatory behaviours. To summarize, the present study breaks
innovative grounds to better understand some of the correlates for different kinds of political
participation on the European level among young people.
Social communities as drivers in youth civic participation
Maria Bruselius-Jensen, Niels Ulrik Sørensen, Aalborg University, Denmark
Social relations are key drivers in young people’s participation, including civic engagement. This
presentation identifies six major orientations as drivers for how Danish youth prioritize participation
in social communities. Data consists of 12 qualitative interviews with Danish youth (aged 15-30)
focusing on their social communities and friendships; What kind of communities are significant and
how? How are they practiced and what is their impact? Despite contemporary sociological
characterizations of social communities as detraditionalized (Giddens, 1994) and young people as
individualized (Beck & Beck-Gernshaim, 2015), at a first glance, this study indicates that young
people’s social communities match traditional structures; Family is central, so is school and other
institution related communities. Danish youth is also engaged in a range of leisure and interestbased communities and digital arenas are mainly used to maintain existing communities. However,
social communities are not perceived as manifest and natural by the young people. Community
participation involves endless maintenance and investments of time and attention, and, thus, is also
subject of prioritization. The study identifies six major drivers for how young people prioritize
community engagement. These are orientations towards (1) Intimacy & affirmation, (2) selfrealization and self-approval, (3) ideals and visions for a better society, (4) obligation and continuity,
(5) work and prosperity, (6) festivity and youth culture. The presentation will explore how these
orientations affect young people’s community participation and discuss the implications of the
findings for how we perceive contemporary drivers for youth civic engagement.
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Family, school and peer contexts as predictors of youth participation
Antonella Guarino, Iana Tzankova, Elvira Cicognani, Bruna Zani, University of Bologna, Italy
The theoretical framework of Social Political Development (Watts et al., 2003) aims to explain the
processes by which individuals acquire knowledge, skills and the capacity for action in political and
social systems necessary to improve civic engagement. The literature has confirmed that youth civic
and political participation is influenced by school climate (Torney-Purta et al., 2001), and in
particular the dimension of openness (Azevedo & Menezes, 2007); by positive relations with peers
(Yates & Youniss, 1998) and a sense of solidarity at school (Flanagan et al., 1998); and by families
who are civically active and encourage social responsibility (Flanagan et al., 1998). The aim of this
study is to examine the influence of the family, peer group and school on adolescents’ forms of
engagement. Participation is measured by 18 items on a 5 point Likert scale that refer to civic,
political conventional and non-conventional participation. This study is part of Catch- EyoU project.
The sample includes 272 Italian adolescents (Mage=16.4 years, SD=.75). Regression analyses indicated
that family engagement and the motivational support of parents, peer support, the opportunity to
influence their school and the possibility to have voice in classroom emerge as predictors of youth
participation. Considering each participative behaviour separately - peer support predicts almost all
forms of participation; family support enhances a variety of political and online actions, while family
engagement influences more specific engagement, such as volunteering and taking part in
manifestations; finally, the possibility to take seriously youth voices predicts political involvement
and protesting, both online and offline.
Beyond voting: Components and predictors of political participation and civic engagement among
adolescents in Greece
Vassilis Pavlopoulos, Dimitra Kostoglou, Georgia Tzima, Frosso Motti-Stefanidi
National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece
Youth political participation is a controversial issue with significant theoretical and social
implications. This paper presents data from the Greek contribution to Catch-EyoU, an
interdisciplinary consortium for the study of European youth active citizenship. The sample consisted
of 589 adolescents, aged 14-17, who were enrolled in 11 secondary schools from four regions,
including Athens. Self-reports were collected on a number of measures extracted after an extensive
literature review. Four components of civic engagement emerged, namely conventional (proactive
support of a political cause), activism (reactive protest against power), online (through the Internet),
and volunteering (working for a community/social cause). Predictors of the above varied
considerably: Conventional participation was equally related to individual (e.g., political efficacy,
political interest) and proximal level variables (e.g., perceived discrimination, school participation,
family praise). Activism was predicted mostly by variables involving interactions of adolescents with
their proximal environments (e.g., community participation, multinational friends) as well as by
societal factors (income, citizenship norms). This pattern was even more pronounced in
volunteering, where micro-level predictors (esp. school and friends political engagement) were
prominent. The opposite was true for online participation, which was predicted mainly by individual
variables, but also from media exposure and religiosity. Volunteering and online participation were
mobilized mostly by positive perceptions and experiences of adolescents, while active participation
was triggered by negative motives, such as perceived inequality and attitudes rejecting EU
conventional citizenship. Our findings suggest that civic engagement involves complex processes
leading to potentially diverse outcomes with significant ideological implications.
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Friday, March 3
09:00 – 10:30
Symposium
Camelia
IN SEARCH OF EUROPEAN YOUTH ACTIVE CITIZENSHIP: COMPETING NARRATIVES, ETHICS, AND
EPISTEMOLOGIES
Convenor: Shakuntala Banaji, London School of Economics and Political Science, UK
How do adults and young people conceptualise digital citizenship and citizenship more broadly? How
are these conceptualizations playing out in the academic and policy literatures? And what kinds of
conceptual and methodological patterns emerge from systematic studies of these literatures?
Ranging broadly across qualitative and quantitative methods to examine conceptualizations of youth
active citizenship and participation in the extant cross-disciplinary literature, this panel asks what
scholars, policymakers and practitioners really mean when they promote participation and active
citizenship, and whether it is possible from such fuzzy and contested terms to elaborate a singular
theory or practice of ‘European youth active citizenship’. From the argument that concepts of
citizenship and citizenship education in relation to the digital landscape are evolving stripped of their
socio-cultural and ethical underpinnings, to the finding that that studies connected to internal,
status-based factors connected to European citizenship dominate the literature over those
examining external, practice-based factors, our papers shake up comforting connections between
citizenship, participation, and democracy.
Citizenship education in the digital era: Challenges for the critical tradition
Ioanna Noula, London School of Economics and Political Science, UK
Over the past 10 years the concepts of digital citizenship and digital citizenship education have been
holding prominent role in the academic discourse and particularly in the field of media. Recent
developments however including the growing movement of digital citizenship in the US and the vivid
interest in digital citizenship education expressed by Silicon Valley conglomerates who have been
the most recent champions of the triptych: “safe, savvy and ethical” (Digital Citizenship Summit,
2016) that summarises the values of the digital citizenship advocates reveal the profound
implications of human activity in cyberspace for what has been traditionally defined as citizenship
studies. In this paper, I argue that in the digital landscape the concepts of citizenship and citizenship
education appear to be evolving stripped of their socio-cultural and ethical underpinnings and
implications leaving out crucial debates and important accomplishments of social science that have
marked milestones for the progress of the human kind such as the UDHR or the CRC and therefore
shaping a turmoil for citizenship studies. I further maintain that critical approaches to citizenship and
pedagogy that contribute to democratization processes and social justice are further cast aside in
light of the impetus for hasty definitions of critical thinking in the post-truth era.
European youth active citizenship imaginaries: Conceptual insights and gaps in the academic
literature
Sam Mejias, Shakuntala Banaji, London School of Economics and Political Science, UK
What do scholars, policymakers and practitioners mean when they promote active citizenship, and is
it possible from such a contested term to elaborate a theory or practice of ‘European youth active
citizenship’? How does the academic literature across various disciplines conceptualise and
empirically assess citizenship in terms of both normative and dutiful approaches and critical,
inclusive and even anti-democratic perspectives? Eight national teams from the Catch-EyoU research
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project have sought to answer these questions by gathering and analysing a corpus of 770 texts
across 12 disciplines, compiled through a systematic search of academic literature about young
people, citizenship and Europe. At LSE, we used textual analysis software to quantify and visualise
co-occurrences, word associations and thematic clusters in the abstracts of each selected text across
the 770. We found that many of the key themes surrounding young people and citizenship in the
literature share no connection with European citizenship; that there is a significant gap in the
literature on young European citizens; and that studies connected to internal, status-based factors
connected to European citizenship were more prevalent than those examining external, practicebased factors. The results of this study suggest that significant theoretical and empirical work is
needed to more fully develop notions of and debates around both active citizenship and a European
youth active citizenship imaginary.
Framing young citizens and active citizenship: Towards a nuanced typology
Shakuntala Banaji, London School of Economics and Political Science, UK
This paper takes as its focus discourses about young people, active citizenship, and civic participation
arising from readings of literature for the European projects CivicWeb (2006-9), Youth Participation
in Democratic Life (2011-12) and CATCH-EyoU (2015-18). These multi-country studies of young
people, participation, media and active citizenship are all based in a detailed qualitative reading of
the scholarly and policy literature. Specifically, the paper calls upon qualitative analyses of literature
on contemporary civic participation by youth in Europe, including those produced in the context of
these projects. In light of current debates around the best means of engaging young people in civic
activities on and offline, and nationally or across Europe, the paper seeks to answer questions about
the potential benefits and dangers of particular epistemological and ideological perspectives on
‘good citizenship’ and of practical or policy choices based on normative concepts. In an attempt to
move towards a more nuanced, situated, motivating and inclusive typology of participation and
active citizenship, it examines the disjuncture between some normative conceptions of youth active
citizenship and the realities of young people’s actual participation. Finally, it positions belonging,
civic learning, dissent and critique as fundamental to current citizenship practices of young people,
and suggests that the democratic citizenship literature and practice must become more open to a
range of youth civic pathways, identities, and experiences if the gap between adults and young
people, between European nation states and the EU, and between institutionalised and informal
networks is not to widen irrevocably.
Friday, March 3, 09:00 – 10:30
Symposium
Rose
SCHOOL AND COUNTRY LEVEL CONTEXTUAL INFLUENCES ON YOUTH CITIZENSHIP COMPETENCIES
ACROSS EUROPE
Convenor: Philipp Jugert, University of Leipzig, Germany
In this symposium we bring together work that goes beyond looking at young people's civic
competence from the perspective of individual resources and motivations. By taking a multi-level
perspective, this work addresses the important question how contextual level factors on the school
but also on the country-level affect young people's civic competences either directly or indirectly
through moderating the influence of individual-level factors. Van Goethem examines how students'
own perceptions of interdependence, moral responsibility, and agency with regard to community
service but also their school-organized opportunities to reflect on these characteristics affects
adolescents' civic competencies. Her results show that both individual perceptions but also schoolorganized opportunities for reflection matter. Eckstein et al. tested reciprocal dynamics between
classroom climate and student's tolerance. Their findings underline the importance of a positive
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classroom climate for the development of young people's political attitudes. Šerek scrutinized
country-level predictors of civic participation among European youth based on large-scale European
surveys. He finds non-institutionalized participation to be less frequent in post-communist and less
equal countries and civic participation at the European and international level to be less frequent in
countries affected by economic crisis and with high number of youth not in employment or
education. Lastly, Jugert examined classroom and country level contextual moderators of the
association between national and European identity. His findings point to the powerful effects of
context in shaping the relationship between national and European identity.
Explaining the effects of community service and reflection on adolescents' civic competences: The
IMAR community service model
Anne van Goethem, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Community service (CS) combined with reflection predicts a broad range of positive outcomes. To
explain that we developed the IMAR community service model. The model assumes that all CS
includes a degree of interdependence (I; CS teaches that people are dependent on each other),
moral responsibility (M; CS positively contributes to others’ welfare), and agency (A; CS is an agentic
experience). It is also assumed that CS effects are stronger the more adolescents’ (perceived) CS
include these characteristics and reflection (R) plays a key role in establishing IMA perceptions. We
tested this model by examining the relation between adolescents’ civic competences and their
perception of IMA and their school-organized opportunities to reflect on these characteristics. We
used data of 2640 third grade adolescents of 82 Dutch high schools. Preliminary analyses show that
adolescents’ IMA perceptions are positively related to their civic attitudes and civic skills in general
(ranging from ß = .09 to ß = .19). We also found a small, positive correlation between adolescents’
civic attitudes and their reflection on the moral responsibility of their CS such as thinking about ways
in which they can contribute to other’s welfare (ß = . 14). This type of reflection seems to positively
change the way adolescents’ view civic issues in general. Lastly, adolescents who get more
opportunities to reflect on the agency characteristics of their CS also seem to develop more civic
knowledge (ß = . 18). Possibly, this type of reflection helps to optimize the learning potential of CS.
Reciprocal dynamics between classroom climate and students’ intolerant Attitudes: A multilevel
perspective
Katharina Eckstein1, Burkhard Gniewosz2, Peter Noack1
1
Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Germany
2
University of Salzburg, Austria
With its goal to educate tolerant citizens schools are considered as an influential agent of
socialization. The present research examined reciprocal effects of classroom climate (i.e., community
in class, teachers’ fairness, achievement pressure) and students’ intolerant attitudes. The goal of the
study was twofold: First, to examine mutual workings between classroom climate and intolerant
attitudes over time by disentangling processes operating at the individual and at the classroom level;
Second, to investigate to what extent relationships might be moderated by students’ age, gender, or
educational level. The study based on a sample of 1,286 German adolescent high school students
from 74 classrooms (Mage = 13.58). In addition, responses from 53 class teachers were taken into
account (Mage = 44.67). The results pointed to significant relationships between the examined
classroom climate indicators and students’ intolerant attitudes over time and vice versa. No
significant effects of teachers’ ratings of the prevailing classroom climate on students’ intolerant
attitudes were found. Moreover, effects were significantly moderated by students’ age (i.e., stronger
effects among older students). Overall, our findings underline the importance of a positive classroom
climate for the development of young people’s political attitudes. A classroom climate that is
characterized by mutual respect and trust might therefore serve as an example for interactions with
31
people outside of schools. The finding that actual teacher ratings are unrelated to student outcomes
has also been reported by other studies and will be discussed in terms of a lack of concordance
between teachers’ and students’ perceptions.
What contexts help young people to participate? Predicting country-level differences in civic
participation among European youth
Jan Šerek, Masaryk University, Czech Republic
Young people’s civic participation is often being explained from the perspectives of individual
resources (e.g., education) and psychological motivations (e.g., political interest). Much less
attention is paid to the fact that youth participation reflects not only individual but also contextual
factors such as cultural norms or country-level economic conditions. Therefore, the aim of this paper
is to expand our knowledge in this area by (1) examining the proportion of variance in youth civic
participation explained by individual versus contextual factors, and (2) assessing contextual
predictors responsible for potential differences between contexts. We differentiate between two
types of context: country-level characteristics that are stable and those that vary over time.
Multilevel regression analyses were conducted using subsamples aged 15-30 taken from two
European surveys: European Social Survey (six rounds covering years 2002-2012) and Eurobarometer
(three rounds of Flash EB covering years 2011-2014). Results showed relatively small cross-country
differences in youth institutionalized civic participation (e.g., contacting politicians) but relatively
large differences (almost 25% variance) in non-institutionalized participation (e.g., signing petitions).
Each country seemed to have its time-invariant pattern, non-institutionalized participation being less
frequent in post-communist countries and countries characterized by greater inequalities. Regarding
civic participation at European and international level, we identified certain country-level differences
as well. Above all, this type of participation seemed to be less frequent in countries affected by
economic crisis and those having greater numbers of young people that were unemployed or not in
education.
Contextual moderators of the link between national and European identity
Philipp Jugert, University of Leipzig, Germany
Identification with Europe constitutes in important part of psychological citizenship, one of the
building blocks of active EU citizenship. From a self-categorization perspective higher-order (e.g.,
with Europe) and lower order subgroup identities (e.g., with the nation) may interfere with each
other if they are seen as incompatible. On the other hand, geopolitical identities can be linked in a
cumulated nested hierarchy (local, regional, national, European). In this paper we were interested in
contextual moderators at school and country level of youth' national identity on identification with
Europe. We used multi-level regression analyses based on data from the International Civic and
Citizenship Education Study (ICCS, 2009), the International Social Survey Programme (ISSP, 19952013) as well as a more recent Eurobarometer study (2014). Results showed strong positive effects
of national identity at the individual, student, and country-level on European identity in all three
datasets. Moreover, economic wealth and immigration-friendly politics affected European identity
positively whereas economic and gender inequality affected European identity negatively. However,
main effects of national identity at the individual and student level were qualified by number of
interactions with contextual-level moderators. Specifically, the positive effect of national identity on
European identity was weakened in countries with higher economic inequality, with less friendly
immigration politics, with more gender inequality and with overall higher national identity. The
positive effect of classroom-level national identity on European identity was weakened in countries
with higher gender inequality. Results point to the powerful effects of context in shaping the
relationship between national and European identity.
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Friday, March 3, 09:00 – 10:30
Oral Session
Jasmine
RADICALIZATION/EXTREMISM AND ALTERNATIVE STYLES OF POLITICAL PARTICIPATION
Off the radar democracy: Insights from abroad of young people’s alternate acts of citizenship
Lucas Walsh, Monash University, Australia
Rosalyn Black, Deakin University, Australia
Recent research has found that young people continue to be engaged in politics, but express this
engagement in informal ways rather than through traditional political institutions or affiliations.
Young people are also democratically active in ways that do not register on blunt measures of
political participation. They are leading social enterprises that work interstitially between
government, business and the not-for-profit sector while drawing on tools and resources from each
or all of them. They are also volunteering in informal as well as formal contexts and settings that are
not captured by current measures or analyses. This paper explores the growth of social
entrepreneurship and youth volunteering as alternate spaces for youth citizenship. It draws upon
direct field research conducted by the authors with young social entrepreneurs and community
volunteers in Australia to consider young people’s attitudes to power, influence and democratic
change-making as well as the implications of these interstitial or ‘off the radar’ acts of citizenship for
conventional notions and practices of politics. The paper finally addresses some challenges that arise
when deficit assumptions are made about young people and their participation. It questions
whether measures sometimes taken to foster various forms of youth participation may in fact be
punitive and deter active engagement. It is argued that policy makers and professionals working
with young people need to rethink instruments and “conceptual lenses” to better understand this
generation and bring the EU closer to its citizens. Discussion will provide insight into how different
forms of youth engagement in Europe can be better recognised and nurtured.
Breaking alienation. The role of radical right parties in boosting political engagement
Erik Amnå, Örebro University, Sweden
Jennifer Fitzgerald, Örebro University, Sweden; University of Colorado at Boulder, USA
What explains political engagement and disengagement in democratic society? Under what
conditions can individuals who are alienated from a political system become more engaged over
time? We ask whether intention to vote for particular parties in the course of an election campaign
can draw citizens into the political process. Leveraging panel data on young Swedes in the first
election for which they are eligible to vote we examine young people before, during and after a
national election campaign. We find a significant partisan impact for one party: the Sweden
Democrats. This right wing populist up-start has managed to boost political engagement among a
certain sub-set of Swedish society: notably, those most alienated from the political system and its
leaders over all. These hard-to-engage young people are drawn into the democratic system by an
unlikely force—one that is quite controversial. We consider the implications of the Sweden
Democrats’ popularity for democracy in addition to its role in breaking alienation among disaffected
citizens.
Four routes to violent political activity
Viktor Dahl, Örebro University, Sweden
The claim presented in this study is that “radicalization” into violent extremism is a more complex
issue than what is stated in several rapports by Swedish state agencies working, in one way or the
other with violent political extremism. The Swedish Security Service (2010) and other agencies as
well, e.g., The National Board of Health and Welfare (2016), advance four routes – the delinquent’s
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route, the brooder’s route, the family’s route, and the contact-seeker’s route – as central to our
understanding of how young people end up in violent political environments. Using longitudinal
survey data, this study examines how these four routes relate to an acceptance of violent political
action among 989 Swedish adolescents. Preliminary results show that, although there is substance in
the four routes presented, the complexity in how the routes toward acceptance of political violence
interrelate, is far too superficially elaborated in what comes forward in the mentioned rapports. The
results are discussed in relation to policy-making in this field. In instances where shallow or
inadequate foundations of knowledge function as the basis upon which policy is created, this may
misguide public servants working with youths who are at risk of ending up in violent political
environments.
Long-lasting shadows of (post)communism? Generational and ethnic divides in political and civic
participation in Estonia
Veronika Kalmus, Ragne Kõuts-Klemm, Mai Beilmann, Andu Rämmer, Signe Opermann
University of Tartu, Estonia
Relative weakness of post-communist civil society has become almost an axiomatic knowledge in
social scientific literature, supported by cross-regional empirical studies. Several hypothetical
scenarios and remedies to the situation have been proposed, among them generational change and
placing hopes on unprecedented opportunities provided by online participation and social media
activism. Long-term empirical research to map actual developments is, however, scarce. This paper
explores patterns of political and civic participation in Estonia in a dynamic perspective. We will
employ data from two waves of a representative survey “Me. The World. The Media”, carried out
every third year by the Institute of Social Studies, University of Tartu. The survey covers the Estonian
population aged between 15 and 79 (N=1,500). First, the paper will provide a brief overview of the
dynamics in general levels of political and civic participation in 2002–2014, comparing the youngest
age group with older generations, and ethnic Estonians with Estonian Russians. Secondly, we will
present a typology of citizens based on the dimensions of political and civic participation, and
analyze the types in terms of age and ethnic composition, media use, and social media activities. We
will demonstrate that generation groups do not differ in the extent of civic participation;
intergenerational division lines, however, manifest in qualitative features of civicness: the types of
organizations, actions and activities. Further, our data show that a clear inter-ethnic divide in civic
participation has emerged, with Estonian Russians being, in general, rather “silently protesting” than
actively transforming and agentive.
Can sportive contexts be looked as a bridge (to fill the gap) between young Europeans and EU
institutions?
Teresa Silva Dias, Nuno Corte-Real, Isabel Menezes, António Manuel Fonseca
University of Porto, Portugal
Sports contexts have a fundamental role in promoting physical, mental, social and wellness skills
throughout the life cycle. Additionally, as societal microsystems, they generate a dynamics of
involvement in a significant number of civil society organizations, emerging as the most typical
associational context for both young people and adults in many European countries, Portugal
included. As such, the practice of sports can generate not only personal competences – such as
leadership, decision-making or moral values (Esperança et al., 2013; Hellison & Wright 2003;
Martinek & Ruiz, 2005; Ward et al., 2012; Corte-Real et al., 2016) – but also participatory
dispositions related with empowerment and critical awareness that are an essential part of civic,
social and political engagement and participation (Dias & Menezes, 2014; McCowan, 2009). This
study uses FGD with athletes aged between 16 and 18 years old, practitioners of handball, volleyball,
football and basketball, to explore how their experience promotes their personal and social
34
competences, but also their civic and political selves. This involves exploring how, in their view, the
practice of sports influences young athletes’ sense of community and belonging to the local, national
and European contexts, but also their engagement and participation as citizens (Martinek & Ruiz,
2005).
Friday, March 3, 10:30 – 11:30
Keynote Lecture
Camelia
COMPETENCES FOR DEMOCRATIC CULTURE: USING EDUCATION TO EMPOWER YOUTH
Martyn Barrett, University of Surrey, UK
This presentation will provide an overview of the Council of Europe project “Competences for
Democratic Culture”. The project is developing a new European reference framework of the
competences that enable people to participate effectively as democratic citizens within culturally
diverse societies. The framework therefore specifies the competences that young people ought to
acquire through the formal education process in order to become effective participatory citizens in
such societies. For this reason, the framework will contain detailed guidance for ministries of
education on curriculum design, pedagogical planning and assessment in civic/citizenship education
for use at all levels of formal education ranging from preschool through to higher education. The
framework, which has been strongly endorsed by European Education Ministers, will be used to
inform educational decision-making and planning across Europe, enabling national educational
systems to be harnessed for the preparation of young people for life as competent democratic
citizens. The framework is designed to empower youth, by equipping them with the ability to
function as autonomous social agents who are capable of choosing and pursuing their own goals in
life within the context of democratic institutions and respect for human rights.
Friday, March 3, 12:00 – 13:30
Symposium
Camelia
YOUTH EXTREMISM AND RADICALIZATION: CRITICAL INTERVENTIONS
Convenors:
Hilary Pilkington, University of Manchester, UK
Alexandra Koronaiou, Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences, Greece
Discussant:
Xenia Chryssochoou, Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences, Greece
In the context of rising radical right wing populism across Europe and North America and security
concerns about ‘home-grown’ Islamist violent extremism, this symposium brings a critical
perspective to the discussion of youth radicalism and extremism. It brings together papers based on
new survey, interview and ethnographic research from across Europe but with a specific focus on
Greece, the UK and Norway. Contributions demonstrate that, while support for radical or extremist
ideas is a minority position among young people across Europe, to view the radical right as a
dangerous extremist fringe separate from a tolerant ‘mainstream’ is inadequate; views and
experiences lie, rather, on a continuum. The contributors critically interrogate explanations of the
rise of right wing extremism as a natural corollary of financial crisis and austerity, pointing to the role
of previously emergent ideological and political affinities and networks. They challenge also the
attribution of Islamist extremism to religious fundamentalism by pointing to the role of concrete
political concerns and social grievance as well as the relational dimension of radicalization (seen, for
example, in the interaction of radical Islamist and anti-Islam/far-right extremism). To address these
criticisms, contributors point to the need for future research agendas to be shaped by a more social
approach, which envisages extremism and radicalization as: complex (not linear); situational
35
(emerging as the outcome of interaction including choice); emotional (as well as ideological); and
dynamic (spatially and temporally). Finally, the symposium will consider the implications of these
critical interventions for effective policy responses.
Golden Dawn, austerity and young people: The rise of fascist extremism among young people in
contemporary Greek society
Alexandra Koronaiou, Evangelos Lagos, Alexandros Sakellariou, Stelios Kymionis, Irini Chiotaki-Poulou
Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences, Greece
The contemporary rise of popular support for fascism is investigated in this article through an
examination of Golden Dawn’s remarkable appeal to a section of Greek youth. This leads to the
problematization of mainstream explanatory and interpretive discourses that attribute Golden
Dawn’s electoral and political attractiveness almost exclusively to anger and a will to punish the
political system which is regarded as being responsible for the country’s collapse and the harsh
consequences of austerity and recession. Drawing upon the findings of ethnographic research on
Golden Dawn and its young voters’ and supporters’ ideology and political activism conducted as part
of the MYPLACE project, we argue that Golden Dawn’s young voters and supporters are much more
than angry youth. Their choice to support a fascist political agenda and practice cannot be reduced
solely to an emotional reaction to the crisis but rests on wider ideological and political affinities and
links that have been building over the previous two or three decades. In this sense, the
contemporary rise of fascism in Greece appears as not merely a straightforward and simple outcome
of the crisis but the complex result of previous socio-political transformations, sharpened, magnified
and accelerated by the current systemic crash.
Youth receptivity to radical right agendas: What do we know? And why does it matter?
Hilary Pilkington, University of Manchester, UK
This paper will review key findings from survey, interview and ethnographic research on receptivity
of youth to radical (right) agendas undertaken for the FP7 MYPLACE project. It will demonstrate
what we can learn from large, transnational and multi-method research on youth political attitudes
and activism. It concludes that support for extreme and radical right ideologies and movements is a
minority position among youth across Europe but that views and experiences lie on a continuum
rather than reflecting a tolerant ‘mainstream’ and a separate and dangerous extremist fringe. It will
suggest that these findings have implications for both how we approach issues of youth extremism
and radicalization in future research as well as for the kind of policy responses that we develop. It
argues, specifically, that, especially in the case of young people, engagement with radical or extreme
ideas is best understood not as a linear process of radicalization but as complex, situational, fluid
and dynamic.
Radical right wing anti-Islamism versus radical Islam in the Norwegian youth context: Polarising
relations with global roots
Viggo Jan Vestel, NOVA, HiOA, Norway
Based on interviews, and also media sources, that cover both radical right wing anti-Islamic milieus
and radical Islam in Norway, the presentation argues that to understand the more ideologised
trajectories of radicalization and to counter such tendencies in a broader youth oriented
perspective, it is necessary to: 1) see/contextualise both ‘sides’ in relation to each other; 2) to see
these relations as having salient parts of their driving dynamics at the global macropolitical level; and
3) that seeing radicalization in such an overall relational perspective - which also includes the macro
level - has important consequences for strategies for countering such processes. The paper focuses
not on youth in inner core milieus, but rather on youth in the ‘grey zones’, i.e. those positioned on
36
the outskirts of these core milieus, but who are close enough - idea related or via actual contact - to
make them able to reflect upon messages, actions and attitudes that the more extreme milieus
stand for. The right wing informants in the respondent set are linked to the Norwegian Defence
League (NDL), Stop Islamization of Norway (SIAN) and an Odinist neonazi group called Vigrid. The
radical Muslims include both peaceful as well as jihad-oriented salafi/neofundamentalists.
Friday, March 3, 12:00 – 13:30
Symposium
Jasmine
EUROPEAN YOUTH IN THE MEDIA LANDSCAPE: CHALLENGES AND FINDINGS
Convenor: Pina Lalli, University of Bologna, Italy
The media represent one of the key actors in the public European debate. In particular, news media
play a crucial role in the selection of problems that deserve public attention, as well as in the process
of opinion formation of European audiences, who have to think of their citizenship also as
transcending the level of the nation-state. Thus, if we are interested in gaining knowledge regarding
how young people in Europe construct their social identity and see their role as citizens within the
European public sphere, we have much to learn about the way they look for information. This issue
appears all the more relevant since surveys and studies have indicated that youth are growing
progressively disenfranchised from the mainstream media, while privileging online sources that are
often positioned at the intersection of information, entertainment, fiction, youth culture, and
advertising. This symposium intends to focus on youth and media consumption in Europe from
different perspectives – both geographical and methodological – with the goal of opening a debate
on young people’s experiences and practices of information and on the main mediated symbolic
environments that can contribute to the structuring of their political knowledge and opinions, as
well as of their political and civic agency, but also of their notion of the European Union. Among the
issues touched upon by the papers included in the symposium are: online journalism and the new
forms of news outlets targeted to young people; youth and levels of trust in the media; the role of
television indirect infotainment; the national perspectives of mainstream news stories.
Disrupting the boundaries of classic news: Youth in search of hybrid knowledge
Pina Lalli, Claudia Capelli, University of Bologna, Italy
The mutual distrust between traditional news media and youth that emerges from studies on media
consumption and representations has highlighted the need for research to focus on those sources of
information that are growing ever more popular among younger audiences. In particular, if news
consumption can be considered one of the crucial elements of civic participation, it is important to
investigate young people’s experiences of news and the main representations of the public sphere
that they recognize as meaningful and legitimate. We refer here especially to the new forms of
hybrid journalism – positioned at the intersection of information, entertainment, youth culture and
advertising – such as VICE and BuzzFeed, which tend to explicitly represent themselves in opposition
to the mainstream media, offering to their readers a vast array of content that is successfully
designed to appeal to younger audiences. We will present a qualitative analysis of content
catalogued from different hybrid online news outlets. These sources, we will argue, provide a unique
opportunity to observe an example of trans-national, youth-oriented media environment, which can
also be seen in a comparative perspective, especially in the case of VICE, with its numerous locallanguage websites established globally. Moreover, they constitute a privileged point of observation
of new media representations of youth and youth civic activism, since they appear not to stigmatize
alternative forms of engagement and critical counter-cultures, while providing young people with
models of shifting communities to whom they can belong, following their specific interests and
consumption preferences.
37
That’s all very nice, but…”. A humorous approach to Portuguese politics
Filipe Piedade, Dalila Coelho, Hugo Santos, Mariana Rodrigues, Pedro Ferreira, Tiago Neves, Isabel
Menezes, University of Porto, Portugal
In recent years, scholars have highlighted the power of media to attract young people to politics,
demonstrating that youths’ civic and political participation may be influenced by analysis and
discussions of the political news and TV shows that they consume in their everyday life. “Gato
Fedorento” (Smelly Cat) is a group of four Portuguese comedians who made a TV show to cover the
national elections in October 2015. The show was daily broadcasted over a period of 4 weeks and
included interviews with some of the most notorious Portuguese politicians and election candidates.
In a humorous and satirical tone, the host, Ricardo Araújo Pereira, enticed the guests to talk about
serious political issues, brushing on EU topics and discussing themes and events closely related to
active citizenship. Given the popularity of these comedians and of this kind of format amongst
younger generations, and the presence of discourses in the show directly related with young people,
we conducted a thematic analysis of the contents of this media product. In this presentation we will
use the results of such analysis to discuss and set a clearer framework of media representations of
young people’s civic and political participation on a national and European level.
Invisible, vulnerable, terrible: (Young Europeans bracketed out from) the EU-related media agenda
Johana Kotišová, Jakub Macek, Masaryk University, Czech Republic
The contribution addresses, first, the representation of prevalent EU-related topics in selected
European news media in 2014 and 2015; second, it focuses on the construction of young people in
European newspapers, TV products and radio programmes. Its goal is to show which discourses are
constructed around the media narrative regarding the EU, and to identify the ways in which young
people are included as relevant actors in different issues composing the “European” media
narrative. The interpretative and comparative thematic analysis, carried out as part of the CATCH
EyoU project, is based on four one-month media samples (May and September 2014, May and
September 2015) from Italy, Czech Republic, UK, Germany, Portugal, Sweden and Estonia. The
research findings suggest that young people rarely appear as relevant civic or political actors and
that there is no trace of an ongoing, articulated and independent media discourse regarding the
youth in Europe. At the same time, the findings show that the marginal representation of young
people in the ""European"" narrative constructs them as a vulnerable, problematic and sometimes
anti-social collective actor. Moreover, young people are constructed as consumers/economic actors.
Thus, as the analysis shows, EU-related media discourse tends to reduce young people to their role
of passive subjects of various policies and market forces.
Young People’s Trust in Media: Between Mainstream and Alternative News Sources
Alena Macková, Jan Šerek, Jakub Macek, Masaryk University, Czech Republic
Trust in media as sources of news and information is usually considered as an important,
constitutive part of social actors’ general attitude to political and public spheres. However, most of
the existing researches fail in their attempts to explore satisfyingly the current increase of audiences’
interest in the so called alternative (mostly online) information sources. The presentation drawing
on survey datasets collected in CATCH EyoU project maps the trust in media of the Czech young
population (aged 20-25, N=814) and, eventually, it compares the results with other national samples
collected in the CATCH EyoU project. While usual measures used by other surveys for indication of
trust in media focus on trust in media types (TV, print, radio, internet), the questionnaires used in
CATCH EyoU employ measures better fitting to current media environments that, along with
professional mainstream media, typically include a wide range of alternative news sources: instead
38
on trust in media types, the measures enable to identify a distinction between trust in mainstream
and alternative news sources. Therefore, the presented analysis aims to provide a path to a more
plausible picture of relation between (dis)trust in politics and (dis)trust in media.
Friday, March 3, 12:00 – 13:30
Oral Session
Rose
THE IDENTITY OF EUROPEAN YOUTH
A critical perspective on “NEET” category. Exploring the overlapping between education
employment and training and the spread of unpaid work
Andrea Pirni, Luca Raffini, University of Genoa, Italy
According to the International Labour Organizations’ definition, NEETs correspond to the percentage
of the youth population that have not received any education or training in the four weeks
preceding the survey. In 2015, in 20-34 population, the NEET rate was higher than 30% in Greece
and in Italy and above 20% in many other southern and eastern EU countries. Many policies have
been devoted to reduce this rate, at EU (“Youth Guarantee”) and national level. In this paper we
take a critical look on the concept, both on the scientific and the policy-related dimension. With
regard to the first dimension, we call into question its explanatory power. Does it tell us something
more than the concept of unemployment? Does it help us to gain a better understanding of the
dynamics of change that affect youth? With regard to the second dimension, we critically analyse
how the reference to the concept influence the youth policies: does the NEET category help to
implement innovative policies in matters such education and training, work insertion and in the
contrast of vulnerability? We focus, in particular, on how the policy devoted to prevent/solve the
NEET condition promote the de-differentiation and the overlapping of formal and informal
education, training, paid work and unpaid-voluntary work. Making reference to the recent Italian
reforms in jobs regulation (“Jobs Act”), school (“work-related learning”) and third-sector (“national
civil service” and new regulation on volunteerism and social enterprise), we stress the ambiguities
that characterize the spread of voluntary/unpaid work as a mean to prevent/contrast the NEET
condition.
Exploring the antecedents of youth political engagement: Reflections from a European
comparative ethnography
Sevasti-Melissa Nolas, Christos Varvantakis, University of Sussex, UK
Youth political engagement doesn’t switch on at some point with adolescence, but has a genealogy
which threads both through an individual’s entire childhood as well as inter-generationally through
social encounters and relations. The difficulty in locating and discussing the political in childhood,
which, as we come across it in a longitudinal cross-national ethnography, the Connectors study,
often occurs unofficially and in the everyday and thus problematizes institutional views. The politics
of everyday, however, remain essential for a contextual understanding of children and youth’s
participation in society and are particularly telling regarding their own perceptions of social
identities – such as citizenship statuses or national identities; this is the focus of this paper. By
drawing selectively on data from the Connectors Study, we aim to discuss the complexity of
children’s views of their national identities in the context of the European Union and their
understanding of their place and role there in. We employ and comparatively look at the examples
of a European family living in the UK in the shadow of Brexit and of an Albanian family living in
Greece and negotiating their national identities and citizenship statuses.
39
The role of identity in the recall of positive and negative events within extreme political conditions
Panagiota Ropoki, Anna Madoglou, Dimitris Kalamaras
Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences, Greece
The main object of this research is to investigate the influence of political identity, national
identification and generational effect to the construction of the positive and negative social
representations concerning the Greek military dictatorship (“The Junta”, 1967-1974) and the Greek
neo-Nazis political party, Golden Dawn (1993-2014). Participants were 300 male and female adults
of three different age groups (18-25 years old, 30-50 years old, over 60 years old). Individuals replied
to a questionnaire of open-ended questions related to the positive and negative features of the
studied periods and also to questions that measured the national identification and the political
identity (scale of the prototypical ideas of the right and the left, scale of political position, voting
statement). Τhe results have shown that political identity and national identification affect the
content of both the Junta’s and the Golden Dawn’s social representations. More specifically, the
rightists refer to the positive features that connect with the Junta’s policy and the activity of the
Golden Dawn, while the leftists focus on the efforts of resistance against the Junta and the Golden
Dawn, pointing out at the same time those negative events which connect with their action.
Generational effect does not affect participants’ answers.
Some aspects of social and political engagement among young people from different ethnic groups
in Estonia
Andu Rämmer, University of Tartu, Estonia
Relations between and distinct attitudes of different ethnic groups deserved rising attention among
various disciplines after the collapse of communism. Estonia was the first among the former Soviet
Republics to launch post-communist reforms and experienced one of the fastest political and
economic transformations in Eastern Europe. However, different comparative surveys outlined that
Estonia, like other post-communist countries, is witnessing systematic weakness of civil society
institutions and discreet patterns of political participation. Some of them refer to differences in the
dominating values related to the society’s cultural heritage. Estonia, being situated at the crossroads
of Central, Northern and Eastern Europe, is proper case to study views and identities of different
historical origins. The Catch-EyoU online survey, administered both among Estonian-speaking and
Russian-speaking young people in Estonia, reveals peculiarities in the mentalities of two
communities. This paper will discuss various aspects of social and political participation with the
focus on European identity and citizenship. Pro-European attitudes tended to dominate mostly
among the Estonian-speaking majority while European identity seems to be weaker among the
Russian minority. Ethnic Estonians perceive the EU principally as a source of security, but Estonian
Russians see it largely in instrumental terms. Both groups are worried about youth unemployment.
Estonian Russians see the role of the EU in reducing youth unemployment and in solving the refugee
crisis stronger than ethnic Estonians do.
Friday, March 3, 13:30 – 14:00
Poster Session
Mezzanine Hall
European Identity: Identity, sense of belonging, stereotypes in today young Europeans. An
empirical contribution
Laura Birtolo, Giosef, Italy
The European identity should be treated as a Multidimensional Identity (Ashmore et al., 2004).
Adding the concepts of cultural intimacy (Herzerfield) and Entitativity (Castano) we observe that the
prejudice influences the European Identity. The research includes three focus groups with young
people in Italy, Germany and Poland.
40
Intercultural competence – a gendered issue?! Analysis of differences in intercultural competence
in a Danish and Norwegian sample of upper secondary school students
Trond Solhaug, Niels Nørgaard Kristensen, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Norway
National and cultural diversification accompanies the pluralization of European societies. This
pluralization and difference call for several needs like communication and understanding in order to
achieve, recognition, equality and justice, self-determination and identification with others. This
paper responds to the increasing diversity and pluralization of identities by exploring antecedents of
the intercultural competence between young people in a selection of in Norwegian and Danish
schools. Although the sample is Scandinavian we believe that the issue of communication,
recognition and understanding is on most people’s lips in times of migration and immigration
throughout Europe. The diversity, difference and pluralization call for experiences of inclusiveness
and we apply Kabeer’s (2005) framework of Inclusive citizenship. This framework mentions issues of
justice, recognition of uniqueness and difference, self-determination, identify with others and
participatory parity to make friend s and show solidarity as important issues in feeling included. A
selection of 895 students in seven schools (two Danish and five Norwegian) was asked a variety of
questions on intercultural competence and relations in questionnaires. Data were analysed in IBM
SPSS using standard procedures in quantitative methodology. Although more variables seem to
influence intercultural competence we focus on differences between females and males. We find
that females display more positive attitudes and competences throughout six scales on intercultural
empathy and competence. On some scales the differences is unexpectedly large. The gender
differences are therefore focused, discussed and theorized.
Youth neither in employment, or education and training in Estonia and in the European Union
Kärt Padur, Tallinn University of Technology, Estonia
The research paper is written on the topic of inactive youth in Estonia and in the European Union.
The main focus is on young people neither in employment or education and training, who are
referred to by the abbreviation as NEETs. Some concern has been raised about the young, as they
are tending towards a decreasing interest in participating in labour markets and educational
systems, and this has an impact on a country’s economic and social situation. The aim of this
research is to deepen the knowledge of NEETs in Estonia and to make a comparison with other
European Union countries. Two main contributions to the relevant literature are made by the
author, as different variables that have an impact on whether an individual is a NEET are found and
the position of Estonia compared with other European Union countries is determined. In order to
achieve the aim, two probit regression models have been made using variables from the Labour
Force Survey’s data. The dependent variable is a dummy variable that takes the value one if an
individual falls into the NEET group and zero otherwise. A map of the European Union countries has
been made to give a clearer view of Estonia’s position compared to those of other member states,
and the NEET rate of all the countries has been used to make the map. Estonia has a position that
can be compared with other European Union countries.
How civil society engagement leads to political participation? Learnings from young active
Europeans in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo, and Serbia
Michaela Griesbeck, Eva Tamara Asboth, Christina Krakovsky, University of Vienna, Austria
In our paper we present the results of our ongoing research project on the “Generation In-Between”
–the children of the Balkan wars– and their current engagement in civil-society projects. We focus
on these young people, who experienced and lived through the collapse of Yugoslavia. The
geographical, historical, and cultural proximity and the direct relation of these young people to
41
Europe makes this generation so relevant to us. Although, this generation refuses the official
government policies and agendas, they are not apolitical at all, as often assumed. They are highly
interested in collaborating and participating in NGO-activities and/or establishing their own social
and cultural projects. So, we claim that these hidden political actions lead these young people to
active citizenship. In our empirical study, we conducted 11 semi-structured qualitative interviews
with young people in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo, and Serbia, who are currently engaged in civilsociety projects. We collected data about their experiences and practices in civil-society
engagement, whether they are professionally engaged, privately volunteers or artistically active
respectively activists. We focused on the conditions for their engagement, on their attitudes towards
society and their future political commitment. Our findings suggest that in supporting these various
engagements of young people it is possible to strengthen their interest in political participation,
despite their disenchantment with the common system which is a tendency identified throughout
Europe.
Community service experience of undergraduate counselling students
Figen Çok, Nergis Hazal Yılmaztürk, TED University, Turkey
The lack of connection between general academic programmes and the community services has
been noted for a long time. Faculty of Education programmes offer community service opportunity
for undergraduate students in a form of mandatory course since 2006 with Higher Education
Council. In the fourth year, students are given an opportunity to contribute the community, for the
purpose of strengthening disadvantaged groups. There are 83 Faculties of Education as of 2016, in
Turkey so there is a huge number of instructors and assistants involved in community service
studies. A brand new university, TED University Faculty of Education has just started this experience
for its students in the Guidance and Psychological Counselling Programme in 2016. Students were
given a list of readings in terms of main concepts like community service, volunteerism, civic
engagement, non-governmental organizations on conceptual/theoretical level. Related to main
concepts of community service, twenty four students in class has developed individual based
projects for disadvantaged population as children with cancer, supporting pre-school children in
poor regions, and children who experienced migration (especially contributing to their adaptation
and learning Turkish language), prevention of child abuse and empowerment of women in Ankara.
Students were allowed to choose their priority issues and to develop their own projects. Another key
issue is that there are also professional co-supervisors who already have been working in the field as
teachers and counsellors supported the community work. After students individual projects are
approved, they have been in action for 6 weeks. At the end of the semester, they presented orally
the process they involved and they were also asked to submit their field work as the student
portfolio with their programme, activities, necessary documents and visuals. Although community
work as a mandatory course seems a bit contradictory, 24 students somehow supported various
disadvantaged people in the framework of this practice which enabled students’ engagement in the
community.
The good European citizen: Person-centred analysis of citizenship norms and their correlates in
young people from eight European countries
Iana Tzankova, Antonella Guarino, Elvira Cicognani, Bruna Zani, University of Bologna, Italy
Within the academic debate about good citizenship, several authors have emphasized different
possible notions – such as adhesion to more traditional-elitist, solidarity-based or participative
norms (Denters, Gabriel, & Torcal, 2007). Recently, scholars have proposed the use of personcentred approaches to analyze typologies of good citizenship conceptions (Hooghe, Oser & Marien,
2016; Reichert, 2016). The existing studies have not addressed until now the European political
context or investigated ideas of good citizenship related to a supranational level. The present study
examines by means of latent profile analysis young people’s patterns of adhesion to different
42
notions about what is a good European citizen and investigates how the different groups are
characterized by socio-demographic characteristics, levels of participation and perceptions of
belonging or political alienation related to the European context. The study is part of the Catch-EyoU
project and uses the pilot questionnaire data with a sample of 994 respondents from two age groups
–adolescents (16-19 years old, 52.7%) and young adults (20-26 years old, 47.3%)– collected in eight
European countries. The results identified five different profiles that distinguished between youth
who held a mixed conception of the good European citizen (where different normative ideas
coexist), groups that emphasized a particular view and a pattern of low adhesion to all theorized
conceptions. While most respondents give high importance on both traditional and more
participative norms, the findings confirm the existence of comparatively more passive views and of a
critically oriented group differentiated by more negative perception of the European context.
Being NEET. Drawing a profile of Italian young adults living in Campania region
Anna Parola, Lucia Donsì, University of Naples Federico II, Italy
Youth not engaged in employment, education or training (NEET) represent one of the most
problematic groups in the context of youth unemployment. In the last years, there has been
increasing attention given to this population of disengaged youth and on consequences of this
condition: difficulty in school-work transition (Cortini, Tanucci, & Morin, 2011), deep-rooted crisis of
confidence in institutions (Pharr & Putnam, 2000), delayed in the transition to adulthood (Cavalli,
1997; Livi Bacci, 2008; Sica et al., 2016) influencing the development of the identity (Crocetti et al.,
2012). It estimated that 30,3% of young neither studied nor worked in Italy, and the 41,5% of them
lived in Campania, one of regions of the country most closely associated with NEET phenomenon
(Istat, 2015). As part of wider research project that includes the analysis of psychological dynamics
affecting the phenomenon, this paper aims to draw a profile of young NEET living in Italy and in
particular in Campania region. This research carried out analysis on the young people using
secondary data collected by Multipurpose Investigation Istat - ""Aspects of daily life"" (Istat, 2016).
In particular, the current study focused on the differences between young NEET and non-NEET
(students or workers) aged from 20 to 34 regard to specific thematic areas: transition to adulthood
and economic dependence, wellness perceived, use and abuse of alcohol, free time, trust and
political participation, use of the web and in particular of the social network.
Developing civic engagement through service-learning: A case study in Italy
Christian Compare, Bruna Zani, University of Bologna, Italy
Service-Learning (S-L; sometimes referred to as community based or community engaged learning) is
an innovative pedagogical approach that integrates meaningful community service or engagement
into the curriculum and offers students academic credit for the learning that derives from active
engagement within community and work on a real world problem. Reflection and experiential
learning strategies underpin the process and the service is linked to the academic discipline. This
definition of S-L elaborated by Europe Engage (a 3-year project funded by the European Union,
Erasmus+ programme), identified the essential features and quality standards for service learning
activities (www.europeengage.org). Research has shown many benefits of S-L: it enhances students’
sense of civic responsibility, life skills as well as academic development, and contributes to learning
and cognitive development in social issues (Haski-Leventhal et al., 2012). This poster aims to present
the evaluation of an Italian experience of S-L led in a Community Psychology lab in the University of
Bologna, Italy. The lab (30 hours) involved 30 students, who participated in 6 projects, finalized to
enhance competences given by the academic course through the knowledge of the community
needs and the work in outreach and low thresholds services (community centre for homeless, safe
nights prevention service, harm reduction, street unit). A questionnaire was submitted to students
to assess the acquisition of transversal competencies. Focus groups with students and interviews
43
with the professional tutors of the 6 groups will be conducted, in order to broaden the quality of
data. Implications of the results for the development of civic engagement will be discussed.
Relationship between community service involvement and basic empathy levels: Determination
and improvements of community service participation among TED University students
Nergis Hazal Yılmaztürk, Burcu Ünal, Aybüke İnan, Tuğçe Temizöz, TED University, Turkey
In this globalized world, in addition to academic and occupational development, being a multitracked individual for self-realization is essential and needs to be focused. It is possible to say
involving community services regarding civic engagement and volunteerism is one of these aspects
which also seems like a form of humanistic requirements of today’s world. It is known that TED
University has a significant mission with respect to civil society initiative. This study aims to portray
the relationship between community service involvement and empathy levels regarding servicelearning involvement among TED University students. This quantitative research has utilized
correlational design. It is aimed to reach 250 volunteered, undergraduate university students who
enrolled in TEDU in 2016-2017 academic year. Basic Empathy Scale (Topçu, Erdur-Baker, & ÇapaAydın, 2010), and The Short Version of Service-Learning Involvement Scale (Küçükoğlu & Ozan, 2015)
will be used in data collection. Data will be collected via sending electronic mails to student groups
in TEDU. Multiple regression will be used in order to analyze data.
Exploring civic attitudes and skills within Youth Parliament simulation educational programme
Eleni Makri1, Filotheos Ntalianis2, Vasileios Svolopoulos3
1
Hellenic Parliament Foundation, Greece
2
University of Piraeus, Greece
3
Hellenic Parliament, European Programs Implementation Service, Greece
Youth Parliament depicts a simulation of an educational programme mapping the official Hellenic
Parliament session. It involves the active participation and experience of 300 youth members from
Greece, Cyprus and countries outside EU to a three-day educational programme sessions within the
Hellenic Parliament, with the aim to strengthen their civic participation and community engagement
values and culture. In the event of the above, the present paper attempts to demonstrate an initial
exploration of the programme’s empirical findings obtained by 169 Youth Parliament members
during its’ last two years’ evaluation sessions. These results reflect indicated differences, positive
relationships and interactions between civic attitudes and skills and modified-related constructs (e.g.
civic action, interpersonal and problem-solving skills, political awareness, leadership skills, diversity
attitudes, civic responsibility, knowledge about political/societal issues) (Moely et al., 2002),
measured both before and after the actual delivery of the Youth Parliament simulation programme.
In other words, an empirical evaluation of a conceptual linkage explored between civic attitudes and
skills research domain, aimed to explore, relate, build and strengthen such civic community and
engagement participation constructs among EU youths within a simulated educational context, in
particular. Constructs considered to be important among youths especially during current complex
social conditions which need a multi-perspective cultural training and conflict management.
Youth policies in Italy. Where are we?
Davide Mazzoni, Chiara Cifatte, Elvis Mazzoni, University of Bologna, Italy
In Italy, currently there is not a clear normative framework about youth policies. Beside programmes
that have been implemented at a national level (like Youth Guarantee), most Italian youth policies
have to do with the regional and local level. Moreover, youth policies are often considered as
secondary policies, due also to their partial overlap with other policy sectors. This contribution
presents a review of the recent debate about the status of Italian youth policies. Based on data
44
collected in the European Project "Catch-EyoU", eight policy documents, at national, regional and
local level were selected and analysed through qualitative content analysis. The analysis focused on
the identified priorities, and the proposed solutions, in relation with the specific representation of
youth. Results show that training and occupation appear as the main priorities. The collaboration
between the public and third sector plays a key role. However, despite the existence of innovative
and interesting experiences, they often represent isolated cases, in absence of an unitary national
framework. Discussion focuses on the main challenges for the future of youth policies that need to
consider youth as a ‘resource’ (rather than ‘victims’), with the acknowledgement of the diversity of
conditions that characterizes this group.
Move Your Body
Semanur Uyan, TED University, Turkey
Move Your Body is a project which aims to contribute to the development of students’ fundamental
motor skills and physical competences among kindergarten students. Early childhood times known
as a critical period in terms of development and gaining basic movement skills, therefore preschool
times are crucial with regards to physical education for kids. To gather the background information
about the positive influence of physical activities on children’s learning and development, the
valuable ideas of the pioneers of early childhood education like Rousseau and Dewey can be
investigated. Physical education can make a unique contribution to the learning experience of
children and may support physical, cognitive, and social development. The playful nature of physical
education is considered an ideal vehicle for developing all aspects of children’s personality.
Encouraging physical activity, especially in young children, can help create a healthier society,
because physical activity habits can be promoted to prevent the health risks that are associated with
sedentary lifestyles and obesity. As a part of EDU 401 Community Service in TED University, the
project will be conducted with a disadvantages kindergarten in Ankara, Turkey. In the light of this
information, I will use some physical activities like warm up exercises, running around, jumping,
playing traditional games, group or individual games with some materials like ball, rope or hula hoop
and gymnastics.
Coping strategies and expectation of NEET youth towards labour market
Viivi Krönström, Tallinn University, Estonia
CATCH-EyoU Project has stated that “a major challenge for the EU is currently ‘bridging the gap’
between young Europeans and EU Institutions, by improving dialogue in order to enhance young
people’s voice in EU Institutions”. Current analysis tries to bridge this gap by giving voice to NEET
youth in expressing their copying strategies and expectations towards work and labour market
policies. The aim of the analysis will be to understand what copying strategies NEET use towards
work (personal, household, community, public policies) and what are they expectations towards
labour market policies. The analysis will be based on 30 interviews with NEET youth from capital,
from previous industrial areas and from rural areas in 2016 in Estonia.
Patterns and resources for civic engagement of young people in Finland
Pia Nyman-Kurkiala, Mikael Nygård, Patrik Söderberg, Jacob Kurkiala
Åbo Akademi University, Finland
The aim of this poster is to investigate patterns and drivers of civic engagement of adolescents in
Finland by using survey data from the Ostrobothnian Youth survey, a survey conducted electronically
in 2013 among 9th graders in 27 Finnish- and Swedish-speaking senior level schools in 14
municipalities in Ostrobothnia. This poster addresses two research questions: (a) what forms of civic
engagement do adolescents principally participate in; (b) what are the main drivers of civic
45
engagement among adolescents? The results show a higher level of engagement in relation to nonpolitical activities whereas conventional and non-conventional political activities attract far less
attention among youth. The foremost explanations to civic engagement were to be found in gender
as well as social and political resources, respectively. The findings show only limited support for the
resource model of civic participation.
Trust in media revisited: On theorizing and measuring young people's trust in news and
information sources
Štěpán Žádník, Jakub Macek, Alena Macková, Masaryk University, Czech Republic
Current young audiences receive news content under challenging circumstances – increasing
preference of online media, multiplication of available and consumed news and information sources
as well as polarization of opinion climate create a specific, novel conditions under which young
people construct and experience news media as trustworthy. Among others, this puts in question
the usual, for decades used methods of survey-based measuring of trust in media – with
fragmentation of the online news environment, it appears that indicating media trustworthiness
through addressing media types (TV, press, radio, internet) as monolithic entities turns to be
problematic both in terms of validity and sensitivity. This presentation – drawing on research
supported by Fulbright Commission and, in particular, on qualitative data from a pilot study into the
topic – reviews existing recent studies on the topic and findings from our qualitative inquiry that
included 30 respondents (with half of them aged 18-30). On this basis, the presentation
proposes theoretically and methodologically revisited approach to trust in media aiming to fit more
accurately the experience and practices of current (and specifically young) news audiences.
Friday, March 3, 15:00 – 17:30
Interactive Event
Camelia, Jasmine, Rose
INTERACTIVE EVENT INVOLVING HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS
Facilitators:
Elvira Cicognani, University of Bologna, Italy
Erik Amnå, Örebro University, Sweden
Isabel Menezes, University of Porto, Portugal
The interactive event involving High School students will present the first outcomes of the
intervention on youth active citizenship performed within the CATCH-EyoU project. Students from
High Schools in five countries will present and discuss their work and will welcome feedback and
suggestions from conference participants. Three parallel thematic sessions will be organised, based
on the topics of the students’ projects. The schools involved are the following:
Liceo Attilio Bertolucci, Parma, Italy
Gymnazium Zdar nad Sazavou, Brno, Czech Republic
Lobdeburgschule, Jena, Germany
Escola Secundária Dr. Joaquim Gomes Ferreira Alves, Porto, Portugal
Alléskolan, Hallsberg, Sweden
Friday, March 3, 17:30 – 19:00
Interactive Event
INTERACTIVE EVENT INVOLVING HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS (cont.)
46
Camelia
Friday, March 3, 17:30 – 19:00
Interactive Event
Jasmine
INTERACTIVE EVENT INVOLVING ERASMUS STUDENTS
Facilitators:
Lorenzo Floresta, Italian Youth Forum; CATCH-EyoU International Youth Panel
Alessandra Coppola, Italian Youth Forum
Laura Birtolo, Italian Youth Forum
This session, coordinated by the CATCH-EyoU International Youth Panel, will present a simulation
game, in the form of a debate, aiming to explore the conditions and potential obstacles in the
dialogue of European youth with EU institutions.
Friday, March 3, 17:30 – 19:00
Oral Session
Rose
DIGITAL PARTICIPATION OF EUROPEAN YOUTH
Project EUth - Tools and tips for mobile and digital youth participation in and across Europe
Evaldas Rupkus, EUth Consortium
International Youth Service of the Federal Republic of Germany, Germany
The aim of EUth is to get more young people involved in political decision-making and increase their
trust in European political institutions. For this we need: (a) youth-friendly digital and mobile
participation tools; and (b) to set up attractive participation projects. The solution is created within
the EUth project: OPIN, an all-in-one proven digital and mobile participation toolbox, ready to be
embedded in web presence of youth organizations or administrations. This oral paper will focus on
the interim results and findings of the project research, innovation and pilot activities. A short
overview of the published research findings on youth eParticipation, standard training, Open call
projects and pilot organizations as also guidelines for successful youth eParticipation processes will
be reviewed. An updated –2nd version– OPIN toolbox for youth eParticipation processes will be
shortly presented too. Project “EUth - Tools and Tips for Mobile and Digital Youth Participation in
and across Europe” has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and
innovation programme under grant agreement No 649594 (www.euth.net).
Exploring civic attitudes and skills within advanced intelligent systems context: The case of
METALOGUE
Eleni Makri1, Dimitris Spiliotopoulos2, Dimitris Koryzis3, Vasileios Svolopoulos3, Panagiotis Brinias3
1
Hellenic Parliament Foundation, Greece
2
FORTH Institute of Computer Science, Greece
3
Hellenic Parliament, European Programs Implementation Service, Greece
Metalogue research collaborative EU project uses innovative virtual agent technology to develop,
implement and test a multimodal, multi-party and multi-perspective dialogue system with
metacognitive abilities for highly adaptive and flexible dialogue management. It employs virtual
agent engaging in natural interaction with the user through combinations of spoken language,
gestures, mimics and body language. Metalogue’s dialogue system evaluation sessions involved 42
participants before and after interacting with the avatar. The present paper attempts to present an
exploration of the positive associations found between civic attitudes and skills constructs such as
interpersonal and problem-solving skills and civic action (feelings of connectedness to community)
(Moely et al., 2002) and especially their relationships with a number of further attitudes and
personality variables measured (e.g. self-consciousness, metacognitive awareness, general and
learning self-regulation, intrinsic motivation, perceived competence, self-efficacy, mastery goal
orientation, individual readiness for change, relationships with others). In other words, an empirical
47
evaluation of a conceptual linkage explored between multi-agent virtual interactive application
domains and users’ positive attitudes and personality constructs, like civic attitudes and skills, in
particular. As such, to potentially consider exploring, relating and building such civic community and
engagement participation constructs among EU citizens, within advanced intelligent systems
context. Constructs considered to be significant especially within multifaceted social conditions
involving coordination and agreement such as negotiation, leadership, interviewing and cultural
training (Lin & Kraus, 2010) and applied in diverse settings, for example, conflict resolution or crisis
management.
Digital religion, a tool for dialogue among Catalan youth?
Josep Lluís Micó Sanz, Míriam Díez Bosch, Alba Sabaté Gauxachs, Ramon Llull University, Spain
It could seem they have no religion, but when asked, more than 1.800 Catalan Millennials answered
to our question “yes”. And not only they belong to one of the 13 present religions in this country,
but also they “use” digital religion individually. Which apps do they download? Which webpages
they surf? Do they tell the others they follow a certain religion or spiritual path? Our survey to 12-18
youth from all Catalonia brings light to an unknown phenomenon: if and how Millennials (not only
mainstream Catholics) use digital religion. Religious apps, games, websites, online communities, as
well as their participation in forums are some of the main issues we want to discover. We also aim to
enlighten how these devices and systems are a tool for integration and inter-religious dialogue.
Apart from these surveys, our methodology included in-depth interviews to coordinators from youth
organizations and netnography. Theoretical basis of this research are based on previous
investigations on communication, digital media, sociology and religion; with authors as Mark
Regnerus (2002), Heidi Campbell (2013), Sandra Ponzanesi (2011) or Koen Leurs (2015). Reports
carried out by institutions and governments about youth and also about technology are in our
bibliography too. Main results show that digital religion is used mostly by Millennials from religious
minorities as a way to build their identity and to feel belonging to a community. However,
interreligious bridges among these communities are still weak.
STEP: Societal and political engagement of young people in environmental issues
Maria Vogiatzi, Christodoulos Keratidis, Panagiota Syropoulou, Pantelis Pekakis, Machi Simeonidou
DRAXIS Environmental SA, Greece
Decisions on environmental topics taken today are going to have long-term consequences that will
affect future generations. Young people will have to live with the consequences of these decisions
and undertake special responsibilities. Moreover, as tomorrow’s decision makers, they themselves
should learn how to negotiate and debate issues before final decisions are made. Therefore, any
participation they can have in environmental decision making processes will prove essential in
developing a sustainable future for the community. However, recent data indicate that the young
distance themselves from community affairs, mainly because the procedures involved are ‘wooden’,
politicians’ discourse alienates the young and the whole experience is too formalized to them.
Authorities are aware of this fact and try to establish communication channels to ensure
transparency and use a language that speaks to new generations of citizens. This is where STEP
project comes in. STEP (www.step4youth.eu) is a digital Platform (web/mobile) enabling youth
Societal and Political e-Participation in decision-making procedures concerning environmental
issues. STEP is enhanced with web/social media mining, gamification, machine translation, and
visualization features. Six pilots in real contexts are being organised for the deployment of the STEP
solution in 4 European Countries: Italy, Spain, Greece, and Turkey. Pilots are implemented with the
direct participation of one regional authority, four municipalities, and one association of
municipalities, and include decision-making procedures on significant environmental questions.
STEP’s overall goal is to involve at least 8,000 participants in the respective environmental pilots,
hoping to ultimately inform more than 80,000 people on e-participation.
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Saturday, March 4
09:00 – 10:00
Keynote Lecture
Camelia
ARE THEY TRULY RADICAL? REPRESENTATIONS OF THE SOCIAL ORDER, IDENTITIES, IDEOLOGIES
AND POLITICAL ENGAGEMENT OF YOUNG PEOPLE IN EUROPE
Xenia Chryssochoou, Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences, Greece
This presentation will reflect on the current state of young people’s political engagement with a
focus on Europe. What are the messages that we can draw looking at the diverse picture of youth’s
political behaviours and what social and political psychology can contribute to their understanding?
Informed by theories and research on representations of the social order, social identities and
ideologies, I will re-visit the term radical in order to understand what is really at stake when young
people engage in violent political actions and how these actions reflect a particular representation of
the social order and impact on their identities. Examples will be drawn from different forms of
activism in relation to the December 2008 revolt of youth in Greece but also from young Muslims
engagement with extreme ideologies.
10:30 – 12:00
Oral Session
Camelia
MEANINGS AND REPRESENTATIONS OF DEMOCRACY AND POLITICAL PARTICIPATION OF
EUROPEAN YOUTH
Party choice and family influence in the age of modernity: Students’ reflections on sources of
political influence on their party choice as first time voters in a Norwegian election
Trond Solhaug, Niels Nørgaard Kristensen, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Norway
This paper focuses on how young, first-time voters reflect on the sources of influence on their party
choice, as they approach recent (2013) parliamentary election in Norway for the first time. Party
identification has traditionally been seen as a result of family influence on social (class) identity or
professional belonging. Converse, 1960; Holmberg, 2008). This view has led to the much tested
hypothesis of transfer of political orientations from one generation to another (Jennings & Niemi,
1974). Later, modernists like Giddens (1991) or Beck (1986) argue that social and political
orientations are first and foremost characterized by reflexivity. This imply that young people’s social
and political orientations are a result of their reflections of self, and their identity, which lead to the
hypothesis that; young people’s choice of party is a result of self-reflections and search for their
political self. Thirty first-time voters in upper secondary school were interviewed about their party
choice. We found that young voters reflect considerably over their choice, but the influence of
family environment was surprisingly strong. A majority of the voters reported that their upbringing
has had strong influence on their orientations, particularly where parents showed great political
interest. On the other hand there is also support for increased reflectivity and the reflectivity
hypothesis. This way the hypothesised family influence is supported more strongly than the
modernity hypothesis. We suggest that political education should take account of this and allow for
reflexivity in the formation of the students´ political self.
Social representations of “apolitical” citizens regard to the type of political engagement among Greek youth
Katerina Karageorgou, Anna Madoglou, Dimitris Kalamaras,
Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences, Greece
The present study focuses on different types of political engagement among Greek youth and their
perception of apolitical citizens. International literature provides various concepts of ‘apolitical’
49
behaviour, leading us to suppose the existence of a controversy-oriented apoliticism. Certain
concepts correspond to a positively perceived notion (seemingly apolitical citizens: latent
engagement), while others to a negatively perceived notion (genuine passivity). Building on Amnå &
Ekman’s (2014) study, we apply multivariate cluster analysis technique on empirical data derived
from our pilot study (standardized scores of political participation and political interest) in order to
investigate the extent to which their typology applies among Greek youth. The results of the analysis
confirm that we need to consider four distinctive forms of political engagement corresponding to
active, standby, unengaged and disillusioned citizens. Furthermore, we notice differences between
those groups and their political identity (ideological orientation and political status). Combining this
analytical framework with the use of social representations theory provides a better understanding
of how the concept of apoliticism is reflected among Greek youth and how it is influenced by their
political engagement. More precisely, we present how each group within this fourfold typology
differs in their perception of both apolitical status (behaviour and personal traits) and consequences
of apolitical behaviour in Greek society.
The democratic culture of young people in Albania
Edita Fino, Natallia Sianko, Mark Small, University Marin Barleti, Albania
The future of democracy in any country is dependent on how democracy is nurtured among the
young. Albania is representative among the Balkan countries who aspire to become strong
democracies in the European Union. Yet, little is known about how democracy is nurtured among
the youth in Albania. This proposed presentation reports findings of original research that focused
on understanding how young people in Albania view democratic principles and values, what their
beliefs about society are, and whether and to what extent they expect to undertake citizenship roles
and responsibilities in the future. Upon obtaining necessary institutional approvals, students, ages
14-15, were recruited from six public schools in urban and rural areas in Albania to participate in the
study. The survey was administered in cooperation with principals and teachers in the respective
schools. Data were collected electronically, using either a mobile app or a school computer.
Altogether, 270 students filled out the survey. The results are described in terms of democratic
competencies as defined by the Council of Europe (2016) report entitled Competencies for
Democratic Culture. Specifically, the following constructs were analyzed: political discussion,
participation at school, open classroom climate, conventional citizenship, gender equality, ethnic
and racial rights, interest in political and social issues, internal political efficacy, citizenship selfefficacy, and expected political and civic participation. Implications are discussed for researchers and
policy makers interested in promoting democratic culture.
Meanings of democracy: How Czech adolescents talk about of democracy and attitudes toward
immigrants
Zuzana Scott, Petr Macek, Masaryk University, Czech Republic
The objective of present study was to explore in more depth how adolescents understand
democracy and underlying principles, their experiences with democratic decision making and how
do they apply their ideas about democracy to attitudes towards immigrants. In order to research
these topics, we conducted five focus groups at middle and high schools with total number of 32
respondents (14-18 years of age). Utilizing thematic analysis we identified main themes related to
definitions of democracy, such as emphasis on individual rights and freedoms and
representativeness of democracy. The experiences with decision making in school were classified as
majoritarian or consensual and attitudes towards immigrants were characterized mostly by
endorsement of assimilation. We discuss these results in the light of conflicting principles which
democracy is build on, such as equality vs. freedom or majority rule vs. rights of minority.
50
Youth, citizenship and democracy – Findings from a youth survey in two Nordic regions
Jan Grannäs, University of Gävle, Sweden
Pia Nyman-Kurkiala, Jacob Kurkiala, Henrik Kurkiala, Åbo Akademi University, Finland
There are significant differences between young people regarding political interest and engagement
because of different social and economic conditions. Further, active citizenship may be impeded by a
societal development where life conditions deteriorate more for some groups than for others. At the
same time, the reluctance among economically marginalized groups to participate in the procedures
of democracy remains when the meaning of active democratic citizenship is perceived as limited.
There is a need for further research in the field, in particular more qualitative studies to complement
the various national and international longitudinal quantitative studies such as IEA: Cived and ICCS.
Every third year in the Nordic countries, a comprehensive longitudinal youth survey is conducted
which follows up national youth policy. The target groups are young people aged 13-16. The survey
focuses on young people’s views on questions concerning democracy and participation, citizenship,
health, enjoyment of school, leisure activities, work, and future plans. This study focuses on young
people’s democratic and civic competence in two Nordic regions: Gävleborg (Sweden) and
Ostrobothnia (Finland). The study’s overall objectives are to: (a) Compare youth survey results from
two regions in Sweden and Finland as well as make comparisons over time, focusing on the
importance of social sustainability, particularly gender, age, and diversity aspects; and (b) deepen
understanding of young people’s opportunities, circumstances, and knowledge of active democratic
citizenship. The samples are 2,207 students (14-15 years old) from Sweden and 1,718 students (1516 years old) from Finland. The findings are interesting in terms of PISA results, but also of how the
pupils enjoy school.
Saturday, March 4, 10:30 – 12:00
Oral session
Jasmine
STRATEGIES AND PROJECTS TO PROMOTE YOUTH ACTIVE CITIZENSHIP IN EUROPE
European youth reinvent democracy in the digital era and propose actions and projects to increase
their civil and political participation
Yiannis Laouris, Maria Georgiou, Future Worlds Centre, Cyprus
Future Worlds Centre has envisioned, designed and currently implements the Reinventing
Democracy in the Digital Era project; a global, UN Democracy Fund supported project that involves
more than 1000 young people in structured deliberations. Youth from across the globe participate in
week long Structured Democratic Dialogues with the aim of identifying the shortcomings of current
models of governance and propose actions and projects that exploit the digital era aiming to
facilitate and increase youth participation in social and political life. Their ideas are peered evaluated
fro desirability, impact and feasibility and further developed and filtered to come up with a
Manifesto that will summarise the key ingredients of the envisioned new system.
Sharing the journeys: Combining political activism and civic engagement in youth alternative styles
of participation
Ilaria Pitti, Örebro University, Sweden
In combination with the upsurge of the economic and migration crises, many grass-root experiences
of solidarity proposing alternative answers to the increased difficulties affecting vulnerable
populations have started all over Europe. These projects usually share a critical opinion on the
institutional management of social disadvantages and, in most cases, they see young people
occupying a leading role. Drawing from the findings of the project PARTISPACE (Horizon 2020) the
proposed contribution is based on the analysis of the experiences of solidarity toward migrants and
51
homeless people carried out by three youth leftist political groups in Bologna (Italy). Data have been
collected between January and September 2016 through participant observations and biographical
interviews with young activists. A relation between the feeling of being ‘stopped’ by the crisis, the
willingness to win back the possibility of having a say on their own lives and on the world around
them, and their specific modes of being engaged emerges in young people’s accounts. Focusing on
their ways of conceiving and practicing politics and solidarity, the analysis shows that through these
experiences of engagement young activists not only seek to deal with vulnerable populations’
material needs, but they aim at creating paths of activation where assistance is combined with or
replaced by self-activation. The effort to provide migrants and homeless people with the possibility
of doing something to change their lives, echoes a similar need emerging among the young people in
relation to their own living conditions in the era of the crisis.
Youth-adult partnerships promoting youth civic and community participation
Micaela Lucchesi, ISPA - Instituto Universitário, Italy
Using multiple methods, this research aimed to study the civic and community participation of
young people in organizations that provide good levels of youth participation in decision-making
processes, but that also involve adults in organizations’ structure. Previous studies on Youth-Adult
Partnerships (Y-AP) demonstrated that when young people participate in the decision-making
processes of the organization and of the community where they are involved, in a collaborative nonhierarchical process with the adults, they improve their confidence, empowerment, agency and
community connections. The impact of participation and Youth-Adult Partnerships (Y-AP) on Positive
Youth Development (PYD), particularly on youth empowerment, on levels of psychological agency
and community connectedness were analyzed. The internal validity of the instrument was tested
and the programme quality contribution for PYD was explored, particularly with regard to youthadult partnerships in organizations and community-based associations. Programme quality and the
context together had a greater contribution to empowerment, beyond the context. The component
that most contributed in predicting empowerment was youth engagement in the organization
programme. Furthermore, programme quality was a predictor of psychological agency and
community connectedness beyond the context measures. In both cases, youth voice in decisionmaking gave the greatest contribution in comparison with the other programme quality constructs.
The model that best predicted good psychological agency and community connectedness was the
one that considered both the context and the possibility of youth expressing their voice in decisionmaking processes. In conclusion, adding programme quality to the context improved all variables
(empowerment, psychological agency and community connectedness).
Citizenship education: Meanings of young activists and attitudes of youth policy makers
Airi-Alina Allaste, Mai Beilmann, Tallinn University, Estonia
Citizenship education has become relevant within the discourse of active citizenship that has
become important approach in last quarter of 20 century. While social citizenship based on idea that
all members of a community have the right for similar welfare and state should decrease
inequalities, then active citizenship model supports development of skills that were deemed
necessary for labour market participation but equally so also supporting people’s civic activism. The
framework for European cooperation in the youth field (2010-2018) stresses the importance of
improving young people’s opportunities in education and labour market as well as promotes active
citizenship and solidarity. However, there is no shared understanding of how young people should
acquire skills, attitudes and knowledge required. This paper brings together views of young people
and youth policy makers on citizenship education in Estonia. Empirical part of the paper is based on
material collected in the framework of two large-scale European projects MYPLACE and CATCHEyoU. Initial findings indicate that learning in (youth) organizations and youth work framework in
52
wider sense is found beneficial for development of skills and knowledge both by young people as
well as youth policy makers. However, diversified citizenship education could be better recognised in
the light of conceptualization of citizenship models that stress the importance of participation in
loose network of community action besides government centred activities and consider ‘stand-by
citizens’ who bring up political issues in everyday life contexts as well as ‘leisure citizens’ who value
recreational contexts.
Framing European youth
Jasmine Ivarsson, Örebro University, Sweden
Many are the reports and studies about the challenges the European youths are facing, stimulating
as well as stimulated by the development of a distinct EU youth policy domain. But little efforts have
been made in order to investigate what is really happening when youth policy become an issue of
EU-politics. The union cannot simply be understood as an enlarged nation state, but as creating new
social fields for problem solving. Therefore it is a need to redirect the attention from nations to
actors in order to study the social processes in which people make up European youth policies. This
thesis is aiming at opening the black box of European youth policy making. It is based on a discourse
analysis on 111 semi-structured interviews with politicians, public officials and youth organizations
representatives, and 58 youth policy documents across eight member states, which mapped out four
different discourses. The analysis will deepen these findings by applying a sociological perspective
closely examining the social processes of the policy making. Special attention will be given to
implications as well as possibilities for developing a common European youth policy.
Saturday, March 4, 10:30 – 12:00
Oral Session
Rose
EUROPEAN YOUTH IN A CHANGING WORLD
Neither active nor passive! Standby citizens and the theory of connective action
Behzad Fallahzadeh, University of Heidelberg, Germany
Erik Amnå, Örebro University, Sweden
For a long time political participation was understood in terms of the juxtaposition of active and
passive citizens. This has changed during the past years and new concepts of participation have
emerged. However, the problem of these newly developed approaches of current forms of political
participation is that they are mostly inspired by empirical observations. In other words, our
understanding stem from too literal translations of what we observe in the world out there into
scientific concepts. What is lacking is a more theoretical driven understanding of current forms of
political participation. Accordingly, this paper aims to take the different direction: We conceptualize
a new form of political participation driven by theory. This is done by bringing together the concepts
of the ‘logic of connective action’ and the ‘standby citizens’. In a nutshell, we re-formulate the ‘logic
of connective action’ in a slightly different way than is done by its inventors and derive a
standby/activated citizen juxtaposed to a passive/active citizen.
What predicts attitudes towards immigration and free movement among European adolescents?
Anu Toots, Tõnu Idnurm, Tallinn University, Estonia
Recent massive immigration to Europe has sharply posed questions of tolerance and human rights.
These debates are to some extent overshadowing the core principles of the European Union, such as
free movement and European citizenship. Has the principle of free movement survived in people’s
attitudes today, when the EU faces a wicked immigration crisis? How different population groups
feel about free movement and immigrants in today’s Europe? The presentation attempts to answer
53
some of these issues by studying attitudes of 14-year old students in 20 European countries by using
IEA International Civic and Citizenship Education Study (ICCS 2009) data. Existing research claims
universally that civic knowledge is positively associated with support towards immigrants and
personal freedoms. Yet, such linear association is not confirmed in case of social identities. ICCS2009
found that boys have stronger feeling of belonging to the Europe than girls despite lower civic
knowledge. These findings pose the question, what role do European identity and civic knowledge
play in youth attitudes towards immigrants and free movement? Furthermore, we ask whether
support towards immigrants’ rights and free movement in Europe are similar constructs? Regression
analysis revealed that European identity increases support towards free movement but has no effect
on attitudes towards immigrants’ rights. Civic knowledge, in contrary, has positive effect on
immigrants’ rights but not on free movement. The strongest factors predicting support to
immigrants’ rights are democratic values and civic knowledge. Support towards free movement of
citizens within the EU is explained mainly by willingness to learn languages and opportunities to
learn about Europe in school.
Living in a suburb area. Which future for the Youth of the Metropolitan City of Naples?
Agostino Carbone, Caterina Arcidiacono, University of Naples Federico II, Italy
The study aims to explore the living conditions of youth in a large urban area during the posteconomic crisis time. In more details it’s been identified the ecological factors that promote or
hinder the transition to adulthood. In 2015, in Italy a law established a new administrative entity,
‘the metropolitan cities’, which provided the fusion of the ten most populous cities with their
surrounding municipalities. Among these, The Metropolitan City of Naples (with population of
3,113,898) represents the third most populated area on the Mediterranean coasts of the European
Union, following Barcelona and Athens. The research has involved 160 young citizens ranged in age
of 18 to 34. Data were collected using a semi-structured interview and subsequently analysed
through a descending textual cluster analysis. The data analysis has revealed the presence of six
words cluster (weaknesses, strengths, relations, planning, memories, foreignness). The results
primarily show how the youth consider the suburbs as a degraded context that does not offer any
opportunity of development. The school, the square, the church represent the places where the first
significant relationships with neighbourhood are established. Now young people are forced to move
toward the city centre of Naples to study at university and meeting up with peers. It Is also shared
assumption how in order to find a suitable employment, they either will be forced to move away
from their hometown. It also emerged the thought of how getting affiliate to local organized crime
could represent the primary way to get a job in these neighbourhoods.
Factors influencing science communication process in Latvia
Justīne Vīķe, Rīga Stradiņš University, Latvia
Production and dissemination of knowledge is a duty of scientists since the 19th century. In the
course of time, however, the process of knowledge production has changed and nowadays an
emphasis is put on usefulness of knowledge in a broader public. Dissemination of knowledge has
become an integral part of research not only in the scientific community, but also to non-specialist
audience. In Latvia, several studies show that society would like to get to know more about
developments and achievements of science; however, organization and leading of science
communication activities carried out by the scientific community are rather fragmentary. Therefore,
the goal of the study is to identify factors that define the organization of science communication in
Latvia. Secondary and primary data were used in the study. Studies, statistical data and regulations
served as secondary data units. Primary data were obtained using in-depth, semi-structured expert
interviews with representatives of the Latvian scientific community working in natural sciences, life
sciences, humanities and social sciences. The obtained data were analysed applying the qualitative
54
content analysis. Several motivating factors were revealed, which mainly indicate that science
communication process has to be assessed and included in the evaluation by those responsible for
planning and implementing of science policy. The biggest obstacles are directly related to the lack of
formal recognition, as well as comparatively low and fragmentary involvement in communication of
science that creates a certain discomfort on the public level when inquiring about the limits of
excellence of a scientist. The Latvian scientific community still establishes hierarchical cooperation
models towards the audience outside the scientific community.
Saturday, March 4, 10:30 – 12:00
Interactive Event
Mezzanine Hall
YOUTH ORGANIZATIONS BLVD
Facilitator: Domniki Kouitzoglou, Greek Youth Forum; CATCH-EyoU International Youth Panel
This session, coordinated by the CATCH-EyoU International Youth Panel, consists of an exhibition of
projects and activities carried out by local youth organizations, as follows:
AEGEE-Athina, www.aegee-athina.gr
AIESEC, aiesec.org
AIESEC in Athens – Athens University of Economics and Business, www.aiesec.gr
Association of Social Responsibility for Children and Youth, www.skep.gr
Club for UNESCO of Piraeus and Islands, unescopireas.gr
Erasmus Student Network Greece, www.esngreece.gr
European Democrat Students, edsnet.eu
Hellenic Youth Participation, hellenicyouthparticipation.com
Όμιλος Νέων, Επιστημόνων και Επαγγελματιών HU.M.A.N.S., www.humans.gr
Scientific Society of Hellenic Medical Students, www.eefie.org
Scouts of Greece, www.sep.org.gr
To Potami Youth political party, topotami.gr
Saturday, March 4, 12:00 – 13:30
Round Table
Camelia
WHAT PROMOTES AND WHAT HINDERS YOUNG CITIZENS TO BECOME ACTIVE IN EUROPEAN
POLITICS?
Moderators:
Elvira Cicognani, University of Bologna, Italy
Frosso Motti-Stefanidi, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece
Panel members:
Erik Amnå, Professor of Political Science, Örebro University, Sweden
Dora Giannaki, political scientist, youth expert and trainer, Panteion University of Social and Political
Sciences, Greece
Yannos Livanos, Former Secretary General, Secretariat of Youth, Greece
Eva Majewski, Secretary General, Young Causus of CDU/CSU in the German Bundestag; CATCH-EyoU
International Youth Panel, Germany
Monica Menapace, Open and Inclusive Societies, Directorate-General for Research and Innovation,
European Commission
55
Presenting Author E-mail List
56
A
ALBANESI Cinzia | [email protected]
ALLASTE Airi-Alina | [email protected]
AMNÅ Erik | [email protected]
ARENSMEIER Cecilia | [email protected]
B
BANAJI Shakuntala | [email protected]
BARRETT Martyn | [email protected]
BIRTOLO Laura | [email protected]
BRUSELIUS-JENSEN Maria | [email protected]
C
CAPELLI Claudia | [email protected]
CARBONE Agostino | [email protected]
CHRYSSOCHOOU Xenia | [email protected]
CICOGNANI Elvira | [email protected]
ÇOK Figen | [email protected]
COMPARE Christian | [email protected]
COPPOLA Alessandra | [email protected]
D
DAHL Viktor | [email protected]
E
ECKSTEIN Katharina | [email protected]
ENCHIKOVA Ekaterina | [email protected]
F
FALLAHZADEH Behzad | [email protected]
FINO Edita | [email protected]
FLORESTA Lorenzo | [email protected]
G
GRANNÄS Jan | [email protected]
GRIESBECK Michaela | [email protected]
GUARINO Antonella | [email protected]
H
I
IDNURM TÕNU | [email protected]
IVARSSON Jasmine | [email protected]
J
JUGERT Philipp | [email protected]
K
KALMUS Veronika | [email protected]
KARAGEORGOU Katerina | [email protected]
KORONAIOU Alexandra | [email protected]
57
KOTIŠOVÁ Johana | [email protected]
KOUITZOGLOU Domniki | [email protected]
KRÖNSTRÖM Viivi | [email protected]
L
LALLI Pina | [email protected]
LANDBERG Monique | [email protected]
LAOURIS Yiannis | [email protected]
LOFF Manuel | [email protected]
LUCCHESI Micaela | [email protected]
M
MACEK Jakub | [email protected]
MACEK Petr | [email protected]
MACKOVÁ Alena | [email protected]
MAKRI Eleni | [email protected]
MAZZONI Davide | [email protected]
MEJIAS Sam | [email protected]
MENEZES Isabel | [email protected]
MOTTI-STEFANIDI Frosso | [email protected]
N
NOACK Peter | [email protected]
NOULA Ioanna | [email protected]
NYMAN-KURKIALA Pia | [email protected]
O
P
PADUR Kärt | [email protected]
PAROLA Anna | [email protected]
PAVLOPOULOS Vassilis | [email protected]
PIEDADE Filipe | [email protected]
PILKINGTON Hilary | [email protected]
PIRNI Andrea | [email protected]
PITTI Ilaria | [email protected]
Q
R
RÄMMER Andu | [email protected]
RIBEIRO Norberto | [email protected]
ROPOKI Panagiota | [email protected]
RUPKUS Evaldas | [email protected]
S
SABATÉ GAUXACHS Alba | [email protected]
ŠEREK Jan | [email protected]
SILVA DIAS Teresa | [email protected]
SOLHAUG Trond | [email protected]
STROHMEIER Dagmar | [email protected]
58
T
TZANKOVA Iana | [email protected]
U
ÜNAL Burcu | [email protected]
UYAN Semanur | [email protected]
V
VAN Goethem Anne | [email protected]
VARVANTAKIS Christos | [email protected]
VESTEL Viggo Jan | [email protected]
VĪĶE Justīne | [email protected]
VOGIATZI Maria | [email protected]
VROMEN Ariadne | [email protected]
W
WALSH Lucas | [email protected]
X
Y
Z
ZANI Bruna | [email protected]
59